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MongoDB Apocalypse Is Here as Ransom Attacks Hit 10,000 Servers

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11–17 of 17 posts

Re: MongoDB Apocalypse Is Here as Ransom Attacks Hit 10,000 Servers

#11
post #9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you, but to me it is a problem that goes back to the people who made the decision of allowing admin accounts without a password. In a world where software stacks have multiple applications, programming languages and databases, it happens that people are not experts in everything. They make mistakes. Then there is a huge pool of companies who have poorly skilled devs coming from the Wordpress/Drupal/Prest…

> it is a problem that goes back to the people who made the decision of allowing admin accounts without a password. No. Just.. no.... Security of YOUR system is YOUR responsibility. > In a world where software stacks have multiple applications, programming languages and databases, it happens that people are not experts in everything. Hire one. > Maybe after this attack some companies ban it from their software stacks…

>> it is a problem that goes back to the people who made the decision of allowing admin accounts without a password. > No. Just.. no.... Security of YOUR system is YOUR responsibility.

I agree. But what you are saying has nothing to do with whether a database should have sane defaults or not.

>> In a world where software stacks have multiple applications, programming languages and databases, it happens that people are not experts in everything. > Hire one.

You seem not to know much about the real world out there. Companies are struggling A LOT to find ANY people at all.

>> Maybe after this attack some companies ban it from their software stacks. > Or maybe decision makers realise that yes, you do need to pay for skills.

More money is not going to magically increase the pool of skilled software engineers around the world. If all the companies in the world increased what they pay, nothing would change, besides the fact that they would spend more money.

Re: MongoDB Apocalypse Is Here as Ransom Attacks Hit 10,000 Servers

#12
Maybe I'm being all "get off my lawn", but I feel this is an almost inevitable result of attitudes about new stacks, the rise of the bootcamper, and hackathons-turned-product. In theory that young hipster developer that fits the mold would be just a junior on the team, and their enthusiam and foolhardiness towards moving fast and breaking things would be tempered by more mature team members and operators. However, I think we're seeing a world where 2013 bootcamp grads are the seniors and the cult of hacking and iterating and breaking things means situations like this will become more common.

Re: MongoDB Apocalypse Is Here as Ransom Attacks Hit 10,000 Servers

#13
post #11
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it is a problem that goes back to the people who made the decision of allowing admin accounts without a password. No. Just.. no.... Security of YOUR system is YOUR responsibility. > In a world where software stacks have multiple applications, programming languages and databases, it happens that people are not experts in everything. Hire one. > Maybe after this attack some companies ban it from their software stacks…

>> it is a problem that goes back to the people who made the decision of allowing admin accounts without a password. > No. Just.. no.... Security of YOUR system is YOUR responsibility. I agree. But what you are saying has nothing to do with whether a database should have sane defaults or not. >> In a world where software stacks have multiple applications, programming languages and databases, it happens that people ar…

> [...] sane defaults [...]

Defaults - sane or not - lead to exactly these types of situations. It encourages "it's good enough" thinking, and dilutes the feeling of responsibility.

> You seem not to know much about the real world out there.

yeah, yeah... yawn.

> Companies are struggling A LOT to find ANY people at all.

Uhm, not companies that are willing to pay good money for good devs/devops/sysadmins.

> More money is not going to magically increase the pool of skilled software engineers around the world.

I would argue that it is the software developers' job to develop software. It would be a sysadmin/devops type person to look after the infrastructure, and make sure it is properly secured. I see so many job ads for a single role (developer, engineer, CTO, whatever) and then a jobdescription for "must be able to do everything related to any aspect of all our IT". Hilarious.

Re: MongoDB Apocalypse Is Here as Ransom Attacks Hit 10,000 Servers

#14

Maybe I'm being all "get off my lawn", but I feel this is an almost inevitable result of attitudes about new stacks, the rise of the bootcamper, and hackathons-turned-product. In theory that young hipster developer that fits the mold would be just a junior on the team, and their enthusiam and foolhardiness towards moving fast and breaking things would be tempered by more mature team members and operators. However, I…

The OWASP top 10 has barely changed in 20 years and SQL injections were always part of it so bootcamps weren't needed for developers to start inserting security vulnerabilities in their apps.

Re: MongoDB Apocalypse Is Here as Ransom Attacks Hit 10,000 Servers

#15

Maybe I'm being all "get off my lawn", but I feel this is an almost inevitable result of attitudes about new stacks, the rise of the bootcamper, and hackathons-turned-product. In theory that young hipster developer that fits the mold would be just a junior on the team, and their enthusiam and foolhardiness towards moving fast and breaking things would be tempered by more mature team members and operators. However, I…

As a young hipster developer, I agree with you 100%. Modern startups have generally been taking an approach that is totally dismissive of long-tail risks such as this one.

I think it is extremely unfortunate that financial incentives are currently stacked against engineering responsibly -- a startup that tries to actually secure a well-built product will need to spend an often unaffordable amount of money or time doing so.

Re: MongoDB Apocalypse Is Here as Ransom Attacks Hit 10,000 Servers

#16
post #4

"hackers have now hit around 10,500 MongoDB servers. That's about 25% of all MongoDB databases accessible via the Internet. The attacks don't target all MongoDB databases, but only those left accessible via the Internet and without a password on the administrator account." 25% of mongodb installs externally accessible lack a fucking password on the admin account. They deserve it. Maybe it will teach them something.

I agree with you, but to me it is a problem that goes back to the people who made the decision of allowing admin accounts without a password. In a world where software stacks have multiple applications, programming languages and databases, it happens that people are not experts in everything. They make mistakes. Then there is a huge pool of companies who have poorly skilled devs coming from the Wordpress/Drupal/Prest…

Could you please write down your horror stories - I am constantly battling to stop MDB being used at work for a variety of reasons (the main one is architectural consistency to drive down legacy costs) so any ammo is much appreciated.
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