EDITORS' PICK|Sep 17, 2021,11:18am EDT|24,495 views Exclusive: An American Company Fears Its Windows Hacks Helped India Spy On China And Pakistan

Forbes ^ | Sep 17, 2021 | Thomas Brewster

[American Number 181269513]

Earlier this year, researchers at Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky witnessed a cyberespionage campaign targeting Microsoft Windows PCs at government and telecom entities in China and Pakistan. They began in June 2020 and continued through to April 2021. What piqued the researchers’ interest was the hacking software used by the digital spies, whom Kaspersky had dubbed Bitter APT, a pseudonym for an unspecified government agency. Aspects of the code looked like some the Moscow antivirus provider had previously seen and attributed to a company it gave the cryptonym “Moses.”

Moses, said Kaspersky, was a mysterious provider of hacking tech known as a “zero-day exploit broker.” Such companies operate in a niche market within the $130 billion overall cybersecurity industry, creating software—an “exploit”—that can hack into computers via unpatched vulnerabilities known as “zero days” (the term coming from the fact that developers have “zero days” to fix the problem before it’s publicly known). They act like super-powered lockpicks, finding loopholes in operating systems or apps to allow a hacker or spy to break into targets’ digital lives. So rare are such exploits, they can fetch upwards of $2 million each. Buyers wielding them have the power to either protect themselves from those who might have knowledge of the relevant zero day, or to inflict massive damage on others. For instance, attackers used at least one zero in an infamous 2020 attack on $2.5 billion market cap software provider SolarWinds and many of its customers—from U.S. government departments to tech giants like Cisco and Microsoft. The attacks cost SolarWinds at least $18 million, with warnings that the overall figure, counting the cost for SolarWinds customers who were also compromised, could get into the tens of billions.

[sauropod]

I hate Kaspersky.

Their AV is basically spyware.

[PghBaldy]

“Fears Its Windows Hacks Helped India Spy On China And Pakistan” -— What is to fear?

[libh8er]

Is that a bad thing ?

[UnwashedPeasant]

"Exodus doesn’t limit what customers do with its findings, [37-year-old Exodus CEO and cofounder Logan Brown] says, adding, 'You can use it offensively if you want, but not if you’re going to be . . . shotgun blasting Pakistan and China. I don't want any part of that.'"

[snip]

"Brown says that after those murders, the FBI reached out to the likes of Exodus saying it wanted better 'monitoring capabilities' for devices like home cameras."

This Austin, Texas, company is on the side of China, Pakistan and the FBI monitoring your home cameras. The American Left has dangerously misplaced loyalties.

[Gay State Conservative]

Could someone please explain to me why India would *possibly* want to spy on Pakistan *or* China?

[minnesota_bound]

They all have been at war with each other.

[Gay State Conservative]

Of the three countries India is the only one that deserves any respect from decent people. Both China and Pakistan are dangerous,lawless countries ruled by psychopaths.

[Gay State Conservative]

Forgot to mention...the post that you replied to was done sarcastically...I didn't think it required a sarcasm tag.

[texas booster]

The title reads: "An American Company..."

The body of the stony tells us that Kaspersky is a Russian company. First line.

What nincompoop editor working for a low rate company is baiting readers with this cr*p?

Oh yeah. Forbes.