IP address abuse: How and when to report IP abuse?
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Posted at 2022-02-28 16:37:02
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By Prefixx Team
The Check Point Research group reported that cyber-attacks reached an all-time high in 2021.
How is 2022 going fare?
It’s not unusual for big businesses to face hundreds of attempted hacks in a single week.
How is anyone supposed to tackle such a problem?
If you want to learn more about IP address abuse, read on. This article will cover what it is, and most importantly, what you should do after an attack.
What is IP address abuse?
IP abuse is when a device connected to the internet is attacked by another device with an IP address. It's a catch-all term to describe cybercrime. It includes different types of hack attacks, DDoS attacks, spam, malware attacks, and phishing attacks.
If you’re part of a big company, you probably know what it’s like to be attacked thousands of times in a week. Many IP address attacks try to hurt a company’s profits, try to steal data, and more.
Most importantly, they prevent companies from making their customers happy.
So let’s say you’ve been the victim of an attack. What do you do?
What to do when your IP address gets abused
1. First off, check your logs. Everything you need to know is in your network logs. Find the IP address you think is the cause of all the problems.
2. Use the IP Whois Lookup tool to get more details about the IP address that attacked you. An IP can have an email attached to it. Find this email address immediately.
3. Report the attack to the email address. The more details you provide, the better. You want to document as much damage as precisely as possible.
It’s important to know the person who attacked you probably faked and disguised their IP. This means that the person whose email you found is likely innocent. They’re likely a victim and might have no idea their IP address is being used to hurt others.
If things go well, the owner of the actual IP should thank you for alerting them to what's happening. They can now look over their logs and find the true culprit behind everything.
Once they find the actual culprit, you can take action.
If you haven't been attacked yet, congratulations. There are some simple steps you can take to protect yourself before the worst happens.
Run updates
It’s super important to keep all your software fully updated. Make sure you’re not running obsolete software that has security holes just waiting to be exploited. Once a security hole is found on a software, hackers usually strike everyone using the same software version.
Don’t keep your eggs in one basket
What do I mean by this? Make sure you use multiple layers of security. Your network should be able to survive a single hit. Don’t rely too much on any single part of your network, and make sure your business will be okay if you lose a portion of it. Different parts of your network should be able to pick up the jobs of the others.
Have good security practices
Use long and complicated passwords that are at least 16 digits long. It won't solve the problem, but it will help a lot.
Also, use SSH to prevent your server from being hacked in the first place. SSH uses a private key to connect to servers and will save you a lot of pain in the long run. Backups are important too.
Teach your employees about threats
There is no way to avoid being attacked. The best you can do is teach yourself and your employees what it looks like when your IP address is being abused. This way, you can turn things around. The faster you react to an attack, the better your prognosis.
Teach your employees what a threat looks like.
Teach them what an attack vector looks like.
Teach them what the most common forms of abuse look like.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a big or small company. Being aware of what the problem looks like allows your employees to react as fast as possible when the worst happens.
If you fail to notice the problem, worst-case scenario, you might have your IP address blocklisted. Avoid this at all costs.
