Hackers use SSH to control connected devices for brute-force attacks

Content delivery network service provider Akamai Technologies released a new report on Wednesday (PDF) stating that hackers are taking advantage of a 12-year-old vulnerability in OpenSSH to gain control of internet-connected devices for mass-scale attack campaigns. The company dubs these attacks as “SSHowDowN Proxy,” which for now seem focused on using video surveillance devices, satellite antenna equipment, network devices, and internet-connected network-attached storage units.

According to the company, these compromised devices are used as proxies to attack a number of internet-based targets and “internet-facing” services, as well as the internal networks that host them. Hackers are actually gaining control of the devices by accessing their low-level command line console that still relies on the factory-shipped default login credentials provided by the vendor.