Collaborative cybersecurity firm CrowdSec released the Q2 2023 Majority Report, spotlighting the effectiveness of crowdsourced data in detecting and thwarting malicious activities to prevent cyberattacks.
The report issued by CrowdSec outlines the prevailing threat categories based on their research findings. Notably, the Scan category accounted for nearly 60 percent of reported threats, wherein attackers systematically scanned networks to identify open ports, services, or vulnerabilities for exploitation. Exploits accounted for over 23 percent of threats, where cybercriminals targeted known vulnerabilities in specific systems. Brute Force comprised 15 percent of threats, in which attackers attempted to exploit weak passwords, frequently targeting SSH services. The remaining threat percentages were attributed to Crawl and Spam.
The comprehensive analysis of these prevalent threats further emphasizes CrowdSec’s automated response mechanisms. The system proactively bans IPs identified as scanners or exploiters, and the community blocklist contains over 20,000 IPs categorized under the scan threat. Employing a multi-vector approach, CrowdSec efficiently detects and thwarts brute force attacks across various services, bolstering the overall security posture of targeted organizations.
In an intriguing observation, cybersecurity experts have raised concerns about the escalating role of IPv6 in cyber criminal activities. Introduced as the successor to IPv4, IPv6 offers a significantly expanded address space to accommodate the ever-growing number of connected devices. Data collected by the CrowdSec network indicates a substantial 120% increase in IPv6 adoption between July 2017 and July 2023. By June 2023, IPv6 addresses constituted 20% of all reported IPs, pointing to a rising trend in cyber threats associated with IPv6. Moreover, the report identifies a noteworthy 35% surge in the rate of IPv6 addresses reported between May and June 2023, which coincided with a spike in scanning attacks during that period.
The report also examines the role of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and proxies in cybercriminal activities. Contrary to concerns regarding their exploitation by cyber attackers, data from the CrowdSec network reveals that only 5% of reported IPs are flagged as VPN or proxy users, indicating that VPNs are not the primary tools utilized for cyberattacks. The report hints that other factors may be driving the increase in cyber threats.
Maintaining a proactive security stance, CrowdSec emphasizes the vital role of hosters and cloud providers. These entities play a critical role in swiftly identifying and blocking malicious IPs associated with their assets. Such prompt and responsible actions are essential in curbing the spread of attacks and safeguarding legitimate business assets from being inadvertently blocked, ensuring smooth operations for potential customers and partners.
The Global CrowdSec Network constitutes an extensive and active ecosystem, comprising more than 65,000 installations that collectively share 14.5 million signals daily and reported 12.2 million malicious IPs during Q2 2023. Leveraging the power of collective intelligence and data sharing, CrowdSec presents a robust and innovative approach to threat detection and prevention, fortified by behavioral detection scenarios and remediation components.
CrowdSec places a strong emphasis on data integrity and user privacy. The data presented in this report solely pertain to threats reported during Q2 2023 by the CrowdSec network. Users have the option to disclose their alerts, enabling them to benefit from the community blocklist. Various metrics, including Trust Score, Diversity, Profiling, Range Reputation, and Expiration, are employed to assess and handle reported IPs, ensuring accuracy and efficacy in addressing cyber threats.
