Under attack. Please Help.

Hello ATS.

Let me start by saying...I am NOT a computer tech, so if I use words like thingamabob, please don't be offended.


My place of work is under some kind of cyber attack. All the emails in our office are getting spammed with about 600 spam messages per hour. Also, the phones are going INSANE. They will ring, but when you answer them, no one is there, and it just disconnects and starts ringing again.

If anyone has any experience with anything like this...how the do you stop it???!!! It's about to drive me bonkers...


Ventessa

reply to post by Ventessa


Turn the power off

reply to post by Johnze


If I owned the place I just might do that, but I don't so I can't. And I believe if the power got turned back on, it would just start right back up.

first things first, what is your place of work?

perhaps this is something you people deserve...

Sounds very familiar to a Ddos attack to me. Which means they have all of your work places info and have essentially hacked into your systems. It should stop within time.

I don't know who at your work, but someone must have really pissed the wrong person off...

Maybe Mcdonalds isn't the best place to work.

That's pretty odd. What do you do for a living? That could explain a little about why.

reply to post by BohemianBrim


LMAOROF! I can't give details, but I will say we "fix" computers and such. Also teach classes for Microsoft there. As far as "deserving" it...I don't know who the boss pissed off, but I KNOW I didn't do it.
Our techs are all gone taking care of clients. The one we have in the office is TRYING, but he's never had to deal with anything like this.
Any other suggestions?

reply to post by BohemianBrim


I am at home sick today. My microwave keeps beeping. My one TV is turning on for no reason. Static keeps coming through my computer speakers...is there a solar flare or something?

My microwave just beeped too!!!

But that's because I just warmed up a hot pocket

I agree, sounds like a DDOS attack. They got your private info. Time to upgrade those passwords and cancel those bank cards!

Originally posted by Ventessa
Hello ATS.

Let me start by saying...I am NOT a computer tech, so if I use words like thingamabob, please don't be offended.

My place of work is under some kind of cyber attack. All the emails in our office are getting spammed with about 600 spam messages per hour. Also, the phones are going INSANE. They will ring, but when you answer them, no one is there, and it just disconnects and starts ringing again.

If anyone has any experience with anything like this...how the

do you stop it???!!! It's about to drive me bonkers...


Ventessa

You don't happen to work in the American legal system do you?

Since I know a lot Judges and governers in a certain state of America are becoming 'virtual targets' for Lulzsec due to the proposed execution of Troy Davis.

reply to post by Absco


Yay. If this is the case...I think I know who it is. Guess I have to call the boss man in.

reply to post by mr-lizard


I am not that special. Just a dinky little office.

Originally posted by mr-lizard
Since I know a lot Judges and governers in a certain state of America are becoming 'virtual targets' for Lulzsec due to the proposed execution of Troy Davis.

Wow, that is a true possibility. That one didn't even cross my mind until you said that.

Originally posted by Ventessa
reply to post by mr-lizard

 

I am not that special.

Just a dinky little office.

In that case, i'd literally Google your company/business name and see if they've offended anyone, any clients or anything, since sometimes DDOS attacks are planned on forums, although mostly i'd say they're planned in IRC.

Dunno, without any info I can't help.

Without being there physically, the best thing I can do is give you some general idea on how to handle this.

1. If you have a static public IP address, ask your provider to change the IP for you.
2. If you have a residential style router , with a dynamic IP addres, simply unplug router for 30 seconds and reboot.
3. Add a DNS on your router to 4.2.2.1, or 4.2.2.2. This will not help your immediate situation, but it is good if your providers DNS server starts to have problems.
4. Implement firewalls on all workstations and servers. The least intrustive the better (to avoid services offered on the LAN from being interrupted) Just something to block requests coming in from outside the LAN.
5. Make sure all antivirus is updated. Get a second opinion on possible risks to the local workstations and servers with an anti malware program like Malware Bytes.
6. Change all email passwords. ALL of them. Make the new password slightly more complicated than "kitties". More like "K1ttiEs56me0w".
7. If you have caller ID, and you can see the numbers that are harrassing you, call the ISP / phone company provider, and ask them to be blacklisted.

This would be a start, but it does not address all avenues of probable attack to your network.

reply to post by mr-lizard


That's an idea... I will try that, but honestly, if this is some one the boss has managed to anger, I have two possible suspects. Only one who really has the smarts to do it.
Thanks for trying I'm kinda getting a laugh out of it. Nothing exciting ever happens here.

reply to post by sixswornsermon


Thank you! I will be talking to some one shortly who can work on the passwords. As far as the routers and what not go...I'm gonna let the techs deal with that mess.

Originally posted by Absco
My microwave just beeped too!!!

But that's because I just warmed up a hot pocket

I agree, sounds like a DDOS attack. They got your private info. Time to upgrade those passwords and cancel those bank cards!

A denial of service attack does not mean they have hacked into the servers, in fact it probably means the exact opposite. A hacker would not call attention to himself if they had access to your servers until they had gotten the information they where targeting, and then most likely would have just left with no trail.

Script kiddies on the other hand would be a more likely culprit I'm this case. Most likely just being a general nuisance.

reply to post by Ventessa


NP.

The spam doesn't necessarily mean that the emails are compromised. Could just be someone with a grudge, a list of your emails, and the ability to get past your email spam protocols. What is your email server? Are you using Exchange? Depending upon which version, there are tools that you can customize to deal with spam. If you are not using a centralized email system, you could also try to implement SpamAssasin on a per workstation basis. It will work on any email client. It will not solve the problem, but it will clear the headache up immensely.

Re: The phones, that one is kinda weird. I remember back in the day of DUN, I had a few toys for lulz named such as "Repetitive Annoyance Dialer" he he he. Output of course being limited by the DUN connection, but perhaps a serious force when combined with multiple phone lines (T1) and a card that supports dialing out multiple times simultaneously. Just a thought.

More likely, somebody is raiding your phone lines. Has anybody asked for BattleToads yet?

For the phone part some one is using a computer dialing program to pull that.
Call the phone company to have them trace where they are coming from as it is phone harassment and illegal

they will likely track to the same person that is doing the spam attack.