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How Do Network Infrastructure Providers Fight Internet Abuse and What Can We Learn From Them?
September 2019 by HEFICED
The list of most common internet abuse includes spam, botnet infection, phishing, copyright infringement, and hack attacks, among others.
Although the threats differ in nature and damage they can possibly inflict, knowing how to prevent them from happening could potentially save considerable sums of money for both individual users and businesses. At the forefront of combating internet abuse are the internet infrastructure providers, having collected extensive knowledge on fighting malpractices on the net.
Vincentas Grinius, CEO of Heficed, an IP address, cloud, and dedicated server provider, commented on the types of internet abuse cases that the company encounters most often, and made suggestions on how to prevent them.
“Spam is the most common type of IP address abuse we encounter,“ said Grinius. “For instance, if our infrastructure is used inappropriately, our own abuse reporting tools seem to work rather efficiently as we have an active user base. That said, we use several anti-abuse tools to monitor the kinds of activities being performed within our address pool. A less common abuse type is malware and botnet attacks when the IP addresses are being used for coordinated attacks on networks. Finally, other types of malpractice, like phishing, are less encountered yet also dangerous for both the users and the reputation of IP address provider.”
The reputation Grinius mentioned is of extreme importance for every company leasing IP addresses. Since there is a limited supply of IPv4 addresses left in the official pools of RIRs (Regional Internet Registries), companies now turn to IP address vendors to lease or buy IP addresses they need. If an IP address provider allows their IPs to be used for malpractices, it risks damaging the reliability of their address pool, potentially causing irreparable reputational damage.
“As an IP address provider, our business is directly dependent on the reputation of our IP address resources,” added Grinius. “By working closely with organizations like Spamhaus and applying a number of abuse-prevention processes, we constantly monitor for any illicit activity that might be carried out with the IP addresses we lease. A single abused IP address could make the whole block of addresses it belongs to unusable, therefore it is paramount to ensure only legal practices of using IP addresses are applied by our customers.”
Even though not every business owner or an individual internet user can have an in-depth understanding of available internet abuse threats, some steps should be taken to minimize the cybersecurity risks.
“Both businesses and individuals should have the basic knowledge of how to avoid becoming a victim of IP address abuse,“ finished Grinius. “Apart from staying informed by reading technical know-hows on the subjects, as not everyone has the needed time or technical background to understand the topics, there is a growing number of threat intelligence and online protection companies that specialize in preventing online threats from damaging users. For companies to be reassured of their internet security, hiring a dedicated online security officer should be considered.”
