MOSCOW – A spokesman for Kaspersky
Lab said Wednesday its systems had been attacked, most likely by hackers
working on behalf of a country. But Kaspersky’s customer’s data is safe, the
company said.
The sophisticated attack stayed away
from user information and focused instead on Kapersky’s own systems and intellectual
property, the company told CNET.Com. The company has since fixed the hole that
allowed for the attack.
The attack isn’t the first that’s targeted
Kaspersky, but it highlights how prolific hacking has become, and how
vulnerable even the most knowledgeable and prepared companies are. Of course,
everyone else is in an even bigger pickle. Attacks are happening to companies
small and large every day, and they’ve even been able to break into US
government computers.
Verizon Enterprise Solutions
estimated that 700 million compromised records from companies around the world
led to losses of $400 million in 2014. The information was based only on the 70
organizations that contributed information to their annual study, so the total
figure is likely much higher.
The hackers were “a generation
ahead of anything seen,” Kaspersky said in a lengthy explanation of the hack on its
website. The attackers used a method that preys on “zero-day” vulnerabilities, or holes in software that developers
don’t know exist. They left few traces too.
Kaspersky won’t name which country
it thinks attacked them, but it has pointed fingers at Israel, the United
Kingdom and the United States in past reports on cyber espionage.
The company said venues that hosted
talks about Iran’s nuclear program were also targeted by the attack. Additional
targets were identified throughout the world in Kapersky’s investigation, and
the sheer cost of the infrastructure required to carry out the attack led the
company to believe a government was responsible.
