Gootloader infection cleaned up

Posted in Uncategorized by Hemant Naidu on February 26, 2022

Dear blog owner and visitors,

This blog had been infected to serve up Gootloader malware to Google search victims, via a common tactic known as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) poisioning. Your blog was serving up 299 malicious pages. Your blogged served up malware to 0 visitors.

I tried my best to clean up the infection, but I would do the following:

  • Upgrade WordPress to the latest version (one way the attackers might have gained access to your server)
  • Upgrade all WordPress themes to the latest versions (another way the attackers might have gained access to your server)
  • Upgrade all WordPress plugins (another way the attackers might have gained access to your server), and remove any unnecessary plugins.
  • Verify all users are valid (in case the attackers left a backup account, to get back in)
  • Change all passwords (for WordPress accounts, FTP, SSH, database, etc.) and keys. This is probably how the attackers got in, as they are known to brute force weak passwords
  • Run antivirus scans on your server
  • Block these IPs (5.8.18.7 and 89.238.176.151), either in your firewall, .htaccess file, or in your /etc/hosts file, as these are the attackers command and control servers, which send malicious commands for your blog to execute
  • Check cronjobs (both server and WordPress), aka scheduled tasks. This is a common method that an attacker will use to get back in. If you are not sure, what this is, Google it
  • Consider wiping the server completly, as you do not know how deep the infection is. If you decide not to, I recommend installing some security plugins for WordPress, to try and scan for any remaining malicious files. Integrity Checker, WordPress Core Integrity Checker, Sucuri Security,
    and Wordfence Security, all do some level of detection, but not 100% guaranteed
  • Go through the process for Google to recrawl your site, to remove the malcious links (to see what malicious pages there were, Go to Google and search site:your_site.com agreement)
  • Check subdomains, to see if they were infected as well
  • Check file permissions

Gootloader (previously Gootkit) malware has been around since 2014, and is used to initally infect a system, and then sell that access off to other attackers, who then usually deploy additional malware, to include ransomware and banking trojans. By cleaning up your blog, it will make a dent in how they infect victims. PLEASE try to keep it up-to-date and secure, so this does not happen again.

Sincerly,

The Internet Janitor

Below are some links to research/further explaination on Gootloader:

https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2021/03/01/gootloader-expands-its-payload-delivery-options/

https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2021/08/12/gootloaders-mothership-controls-malicious-content/

https://www.richinfante.com/2020/04/12/reverse-engineering-dolly-wordpress-malware

https://blog.sucuri.net/2018/12/clever-seo-spam-injection.html

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Saskatoon Photography-Sharlene Preview

Posted in Uncategorized by Hemant Naidu on June 14, 2010

It was a gorgeous sunny evening in Saskatoon making my portrait shoot with Sharlene even more enjoyable. Here’s a quick teaser photograph from tonight’s session. Enjoy.

Saskatoon Photographer Naidu Photography - Sharlene Portrait Teaser

Guest Post on Tiffinbox.org

Posted in Uncategorized by Hemant Naidu on April 22, 2010
Hartford, Connecticut wedding photographer Seshu runs the Tiffinbox blog that showcases photographers, writers, designers, and other artists around the world. After meeting Seshu on Twitter we arranged for me to write a guest post for the Tiffinbox blog, which is now live on the site. The post is titled Confessions of an Emerging Professional Photographer where I discuss my entrance into the photography business.
Naidu Photography guest post on tiffinbox.org - Confessions of an Emerging Professional Photographer
Since Naidu Photography is a new business this was a great opportunity to gain some exposure, while also giving me a chance to make some social connections with others in the industry. I would like to thank Seshu for giving me this opportunity to write for his site, and look forward to making contributions in the future. Please take a moment to head over to the Tiffinbox and enjoy what it has to offer.