How do Hackers use SSH Tunnels for Sending Spam

Posted by admin on 03 08 2015. 1 Comment on How do Hackers use SSH Tunnels for Sending Spam

Hackers have several ingenious ways to infiltrate a secure system such as an SSH tunnel so that they can send spam. The current process that they use is to connect the server utilizing SSH tunnel via a cracked or compromised user account. The problem with this is you cannot control each and every user activity in your network. The vulnerability of your system lies on the insecure management of accounts. If attackers find a cracked account, sending spam will be as easy as 1, 2, 3.

When the hackers find a compromised account in your system, the next step that they will take will be to set up an SSH tunnel. Once they have done that successfully, they will forward port 25 back to the system and this permits so many undesirable activities. The process will be complete when they connect to any port that they want and manipulate the account to send spam to a few or the entire network.

The authentication process is lenient especially with an SMTP connection so the tunnel can easily be created. Mysterious as it may sound, the entire process is untraceable. It is hard to decipher such an occurrence in the system because you cannot detect it in the system log database. Unless you are well-versed about the inner working of the SSH tunnel, you will have no idea how to fix the error.

When this happens to your business and someone has alerted you of the spam messages, you have to learn how to reverse the process. You can talk to an expert on this so that your machine can be checked. If it is exposed and compromised, they can figure out how to repair the damage of recreate the whole process.

The best way to use the SSH channel if you want your connection to be secure is to install firewall. You also need to know the people who are utilizing the system. You can take these necessary actions to prevent the hackers from sending spam messages. Taking this precautionary measures to the next level would be an advantage. Make sure that you have recorded all the users within the system so that you can allow or disallow their access to the files. Feel free to block the rest of the unauthorized access to secure your network.

When the users connect via an encrypted log in and password, the attacks can also be minimized or eliminated. Regular updating of the passwords or log in requirements is necessary even if the process seems to be much of a hassle for some users. It is better to prevent than to remedy an already damaged network. The exploits done by these hackers should not be tolerated because the normal business operations would stall no one wants that to ever happen throughout the course of important operations. Being cautious about the sensitive nature of your internal system not only protects your business but also the privacy of your clients. Both factors should be taken into account so that everything will run smoothly.