Universities Warned to Protect Their Computer Networks from China

In a July 16, 2013 article, a New York Times article Universities Face a Rising Barrage of Cyberattacks, Stanford University computer networks were attacked by China sources according to the article.  In another article about the same incident, Stanford Probes Breach, As Attacks on Universities Soar.

The attacks have been increasing in sophistication as well as in frequency, often going undetected, which is prompting university officials to reconsider the open nature of their networks.

“A university environment is very different from a corporation or a government agency, because of the kind of openness and free flow of information you’re trying to promote,” David J. Shaw, the chief information security officer at Purdue University, told the Times. “The researchers want to collaborate with others, inside and outside the university, and to share their discoveries.”

Some research universities work with government agencies on classified projects, but even those that don’t, like Stanford, still work on projects that produce patents and other intellectual property used in commercial, medical and academic fields. And intellectual property has become the prime target of many cyberattacks, officials say.

 

A threat map showing trace lines of where some attacks to the USA originate.

 

University attacks are gaining momentum and are very insipid.  According to Bill Mellon of the University of Wisconsin:

“We get 90,000 to 100,000 attempts per day, from China alone, to penetrate our system,” said Mr. Mellon, the associate dean for research policy. “There are also a lot from Russia, and recently a lot from Vietnam, but it’s primarily China.”

China and Russian Federation are two most frequent countries where unsolicited attacks come from, as a consensus of many computer security researchers. In today's cyberthreat landscape, universities, small to large businesses  - of all types, as well as non-profits should be most concerned about blocking these Internet traffic sources as much as possible. Today a simple subscription to an annual firewall protection service may be all that is needed to avoid these attacks.  Most institutions do not need to allow Internet traffic from China nor the Russian Federation.

One source of this problem are network capable printers. Another article in GCN.com How Hackers can Turn the Internet of Things into a Weapon explains, printers can allow easy access to any hacker who has found his or her way past the security of a private computer network.  Such devices have insecure webpages to help maintain things like drum life, toner quantity, number of printed pages, etc. Until businesses who produce these devices improve the security of them, it is very important to immediately alter the security on these devices to prevent the harboring of infections on private computer networks.

To view the daily reporting of attacks over the Internet, stop by ShawdowServer.org dedicated webpage to view statistics of these attacks.  Or consider visiting the threat portal at ArborNetworks.com for their interpretation of current Internet attack trends.