More notes on US-CERTs IOCs
Yet another Russian attack against the power grid, and yet more bad IOCs from the DHS US-CERT.IOCs are "indicators of compromise", things you can look for in order to order to see if you, too, have been hacked by the same perpetrators. There are several types of IOCs, ranging from the highly specific to the uselessly generic.
A uselessly generic IOC would be like trying to identify bank robbers by the fact that their getaway car was "white" in color. It's worth documenting, so that if the police ever show up in a suspected cabin in the woods, they can note that there's a "white" car parked in front.
But if you work bank security, that doesn't mean you should be on the lookout for "white" cars. That would be silly.
This is what happens with US-CERT's IOCs. They list some potentially useful things, but they also list a lot of junk that waste's people's times, with little ability to distinguish between the useful and the useless.
An example: a few months ago was the GRIZZLEYBEAR report published by US-CERT. Among other things, it listed IP addresses used by hackers. There was no description which would be useful IP Continue reading
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