McAfee has observed and reported an increase in attacks on RDP ports exposed to the internet. This proves that cybercriminals are yet again exploiting the overflowing opportunist market that this pandemic brings in its wake. McAfee connotes the weakness in the system of working with RDPs as most companies quickly rallied their systems online without putting the appropriate security measures in place.
Remote Desktop Protocol(RDP) ports are essential of many businesses’ work processes during this pandemic. It allows for communication with a remote system.
Reports show that the number of attacks on RDP ports rapidly grew from three million to over 4.5million. This happened in the short span of three months (January through March 2020). The increase in exposure brought in its wake an upthrust in the attacks, and the mass of RDP certification demanded in underground markets.
China was the country with the most stolen credentials, followed closely by Brazil, and Hong Kong came in third.
How These Attacks Happen
McAfee researched the methods cybercriminals are using to breach RDP procedures. Basically, at the lowest level, some passwords were too weak, and most systems did not even have passwords. Also, the presence of flaws and absence of containment and reparation measures.
According to McAfee, RDP still is amongst some of the most used transmitters used to interrupt institutions and disrupt systems. It is an opening for cybercrimes such as spam spreading and a plethora of other activities that would be hazardous to the hosting account. These are currently the market demand rising in underground markets.
The Smatter Choice – Prevention
To stay safe, it is advisable to take precautionary measures such as having a locked account with a sophisticated password that would be difficult to crack. Also, getting vulnerabilities fixed is very vital, as any loophole can be tragic. Since there has been no mention yet of how these cyberattacks are being combated and controlled, it is up to us to prevent ourselves from falling prey.
