Shadowserver Foundation is a
nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
security organization that gathers and analyzes data on malicious Internet activity (including
malware
Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...
,
botnets, and
computer fraud
Computer fraud is a cybercrime and the act of using a computer to take or alter electronic data, or to gain unlawful use of a computer or system. In the United States, computer fraud is specifically proscribed by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, ...
), sends daily network reports to subscribers, and works with law enforcement organizations around the world in
cybercrime
A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing the ...
investigations. Established in 2004 as a "volunteer watchdog group," it liaises with national governments,
CSIRTs,
network providers, academic institutions, financial institutions,
Fortune 500 companies
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along w ...
, and
end users to improve Internet security, enhance product capability, advance research, and dismantle criminal infrastructure.
Funding
In early 2020,
Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...
, which has been the primary funder for 15 years, announced they would be withdrawing their funding. In late May 2020 it was announced that the Shadowserver Foundation had received funding from various sources to enable “the group to continue in a more sustainable way without becoming dependent on a single backer again.”
Activities
Data collection
Shadowserver scans the
IPv4 Internet 45 times per day. It harvests data on malware, spam, bots, and botnets using large-scale sensor networks of
honeypots and
honeyclients placed throughout the world. It uses
sinkholes to collect data on bots and
DDOS attacks
In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connect ...
. It also receives additional malware and sinkhole data from governments, industry partners, and law enforcement agencies that have established reciprocal data-sharing agreements with Shadowserver.
Data analysis
Shadowserver stores raw malware data permanently in its repository. As new data are collected, Shadowserver analyzes them using thousands of virtual
sandboxes and hundreds of iron sandboxes. It regularly re-analyzes raw data previously collected. The results of these analyses are stored in the organization's analysis cluster.
Network reporting
Shadowserver sends free daily network reports to users who have subscribed to them. The reports contain all the data that Shadowserver has collected and analyzed about any suspicious activity it was able to detect within the specific networks or regions for which the subscriber is responsible. For example, a national government might receive data aggregated by geo-spatial coordinates defined by latitude and longitude, while an international network provider might receive data filtered by
ASN.
Investigation support
Shadowserver liaises with security organizations, national governments, and CSIRTs to dismantle global cybercrime networks; for example, it worked with the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
,
Europol, and
Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
to take down the Avalanche network in 2016.
It also helps law enforcement partners to develop strategies against cyber security threats and to mitigate threats as they emerge, focusing on cases that involve criminal abuse of the Internet’s infrastructure.
References
External links
* {{Official website
Computer security organizations