Kaspersky USA Download Website Compromised by Hackers

Cybercriminals became a serious cause of humiliation for Russian security vendor Kaspersky Lab's, when they recently (3rd week of October 2010) hacked the security firm's USA download website for anti-virus products.

When users attempted to download software from the official website of Kaspersky on Oct. 17 (2010), they were directed to a malicious website that scammed users into downloading bogus anti-virus software naming Security Tool. Once this fake software is executed by users, it displays various pop-ups highlighting so many flaws inside the system and thus, convincing users into buying the complete version of the software to fix the problems.

Various netizens reported about these attacks on several forums and blogs. However, initially Kaspersky rejected all the attacks, even after a blog post by a Japanese Kaspersky employee stated that the issue was resolved, as reported by eweek.com on October 19, 2010. Later on 19th October 2010, the firm finally admitted that website was actually hacked.

The company revealed that the hacker's entry was traced down to flaw in a third-party element used for the administration of website.

Commenting on the issue, a Kaspersky Spokesperson highlighted that the rogue redirection stayed for three and a half hours and the server was immediately taken offline after the company realized the problem, as reported by Softpedia on October 19, 2010.

According to the spokesperson, presently, the server is safe, protected, and completely online and users can easily download Kaspersky products.

Further, Kaspersky Labs said that its security researchers were continuing to recognize the expected outcomes of the cyber attack and are 24x7 available to guide and help customers in eliminating the malware, although the statement gives no contact information regarding users who wish to take Kaspersky up on the offer.

Commenting on the whole matter, Rik Ferguson, Senior Security Advisor at Trend Micro stated that the security firms had often been the target of cyber hackers and without fail, sincerity and precision had always been the best policy in the consequences of such an incident, as reported by IT PRO on October 19, 2010.

Related article: Kaspersky Released malware Statistics for September 2008

» SPAMfighter News - 10/27/2010