Hacking Team Hack Results in Release of Zero-Day Exploit

Update 7/20/15: Microsoft released an emergency security update to patch the vulnerability that was discovered in the aftermath of the Hacking Team breach.

Original Article:

You are diligent with your information security. You have a good anti-malware solution and you make sure it’s up-to-date. You use your pop-up blocker, never click on links or attachments in email messages unless you are completely sure it’s safe, and you certainly know how to identify a phishing email. And you make sure that you keep all the patches and updates for the software on your computer are applied as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that still may not be enough.

The Italian company Hacking Team, which sells digital spying tools to governments, law enforcement agencies, and private companies was recently hacked. As a result, it was found that a sophisticated zero-day exploit and detailed instructions on how to use it was released into the wild. This one affects Adobe Flash and may possibly be one of the “fastest documented cases of an immediate weaponization in the wild,” if you ask Malwarebytes.

What more can you do though? Certainly it’s important to use caution when surfing the Web. Avoid going to questionable or unfamiliar sites. If you suspect a site is a bit fishy, avoid it. Also, consider disabling the Adobe Flash plug-in in your browser settings until a patch is released; which is expected this week. If that isn’t an option for you, try enabling “click-to-play” for Flash for the time being. Each browser is different, so you will need to look up instructions on how to do this for the ones you use.

The most vulnerable browser to this issue is Microsoft Explorer. If that is your favorite browser, just consider using another one for the near term and once the Flash fix is released, you can go back to it. Remember that each browser needs to have the fix applied separately.

If this vulnerability is successfully exploited, it could crash your computer and/or allow an attacker to take control of your system.

Additional leaks from this breach also include an exploit that may wipe the data from jailbroken Android phone and a possible zero-day vulnerability in all versions of the Windows operating system since Windows XP. If you haven’t upgraded your Windows XP operating system, it’s more critical to do so. Microsoft stopped supporting it over a year ago and will not be issuing a patch for this or any other issue that arises.