As cloud computing gains more popularity among businesses, the threat of cyber-attack surfaces to the fore. Microsoft Azure is not immune to security issues, as the recent exploit involving Emojideploy Botnet demonstrates. In this article, we will investigate the attack and discuss ways to stay safe from similar incidents in the future.
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service which allows users to build, manage, and deploy applications and services on the Azure platform. The Emojideploy Botnet was designed to exploit a specific misconfiguration present in Microsoft Azure to launch remote code execution attacks. This botnet leveraged the “deploy to Azure” feature to spin up a Windows virtual machine and used that to deploy malicious code.
The malware was a compiled ‘.NET’ executable presented as a comic emoji. By exploiting Microsoft Azure’s automatic installation feature, the attacker was able to spin-up virtual machines across numerous Windows systems, while also compromising the vulnerable systems by running malicious code.
As the attack was directed at misconfigured Microsoft Azure installations, it is highly recommended that user configure their Microsoft Azure account to protect against such remote code execution attacks. This can be done by configuring the ‘deploy to Azure’ option in the Azure interface to deploy only trusted applications along with ensuring that the user only deploys applications after a detailed security review. Moreover, stringent authentication and authorization should be adopted to curb any unauthorized access to the cloud-based platform.
Overall, the recent Emojideploy Botnet attack serves as a reminder of the importance of cloud security and the need to vigilantly review configurations of cloud accounts. By making use of various security solutions and monitoring tools, user can detect, report, and mitigate any threats to the cloud environment. To conclude, the Emojideploy Botnet attack demonstrates a valuable lesson – user should know what they are deploying and where in order to keep their cloud environment safe.
This Cyber News was published on securityaffairs.com. Publication date: Mon, 23 Jan 2023 08:46:03 +0000