SQL attack hits 500,000 websites

Sans warns of growing danger

Shaun Nichols in California

vnunet.com, 25 Apr 2008

Security researchers have uncovered a new SQL attack which has compromised more than half a million web pages.

"They have hit city websites, commercial sites and even government websites, " wrote Sans researcher Donald Smith.

"This type of injection pretty much voids the concept of 'trusted' or 'safe' websites."

Security firm F-Secure said that at least 510,000 pages have fallen victim to the attack.

The compromised sites have been embedded with code that redirects the user to a third-party site at which eight different exploits attempt to install a password-stealing Trojan.

F-Secure and Sans Institute urged administrators to block access to the domains hosting the malware exploit.

They have hit city websites, commercial sites and even government websites

Donald Smith Sans Institute

The Sans Internet Storm Center recommended blocking access to hxxp:/www.nihaorr1.com and the IP it resolves to 219DOT153DOT46DOT28 at the edge or border of the network.

F-Secure also recommended that administrators of hosting servers check their logs for possible attacks.

The outbreak is the latest in a rash of large-scale attacks this year. In March, a pair of attacks, one infecting 10,000 pages and another compromising 200,000 pages, were uncovered by researchers.