Subj : Thousands of shortened domains registered to carry out cyberattac
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Wed Nov 01 2023 19:15:05

Thousands of shortened domains registered to carry out cyberattacks and more

Date:
Wed, 01 Nov 2023 19:00:22 +0000

Description:
Researchers uncover a major URL shortening service used to facilitate 
cybercrime.

FULL STORY
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Cybersecurity researchers from Infoblox have uncovered a major 
link-shortening operation that was helping cybercriminals evade detection and 
deliver phishing and malware sites to their targets. 

They dubbed the operation Prolific Puma, and think its likely that multiple 
threat actors were involved in the operations work and expansion. 

As per the report, Prolific Puma has been using a registered domain 
generation algorithm (RDGA) to create domain names in bulk. Then, they would 
use those domains to provide a link-shortening service to other malicious 
actors. Years in operation 

Those malicious actors would then create their own phishing and malware 
pages, and use the service to avoid scanners detecting them as such. 

When we disrupt Prolific Puma, we disrupt a larger segment of the criminal 
economy, the researchers said in the report. Prolific Puma generates large 
volumes of domains algorithmically, and then they use these domains to 
generate shortened links for other malicious actors, allowing them to hide 
their true activity. 

The operation has been active for at least four years, Infoblox further 
explained, speculating that it might have been even longer. After all, the 
operation was not blown after researchers discovered a malicious landing page 
- because they havent. 

Instead, it was found through DNS analytics. Six months ago, the researchers 
that analyze 70 billion DNS queries a day detected an RDGA creating domain 
names for malicious URL shortening services. 

In less than a month, Prolific Puma managed to register thousands of domains, 
many on the U.S. top-level domain (usTLD), the researchers found. Since April 
last year, some 75,000 unique domain names have been registered. At the start 
of 2023, Prolific Puma registered almost 800 domains in a single day. 

Most of the domains have a maximum of four characters, although there have 
been instances of domains with up to seven. 

How victims end up on these pages is anyones guess, although the researchers 
speculate its the usual vectors: social media advertisements, text messages, 
and the like. More from TechRadar Pro Tackling malicious domains and 
typosquatting Here's a list of the best firewalls today These are the best 
endpoint protection services right now



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/thousands-of-shortened-domains-have-bee
n-registered-to-carry-out-cyberattacks-and-more


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