Google Speaks But Is MIT Technology Review Delivering Useful Information or Just PR?

February 4, 2021

I read “Google Says It’s Too Easy for Hackers to Find New Security Flaws.” I assume that the Google is thrilled that its systems and methods were not directly implicated in the SolarWinds’ misstep and possibly VMWare’s and Microsoft’s. But I don’t know because the information is dribbling out at irregular intervals and in my opinion has either been scrubbed or converted to euphemism. A good example is the Reuters’ report “Exclusive: Suspected Chinese Hackers Used SolarWinds Bug to Spy on US Payroll Agency — Sources.”

The esteemed institution supported by Jeffrey Epstein and housing a expert who allegedly had ties to an American adversary’s officials reports:

Attackers are exploiting the same types of software vulnerabilities over and over again, because companies often miss the forest for the trees.

What makes this story different is that the Google is now agreeing that today’s software is easy to compromise. The write up quotes an expert who offers:

Over its six-year lifespan, Google’s team has publicly tracked over 150 major zero-day bugs, and in 2020 Stone’s team documented 24 zero-days that were being exploited—a quarter of which were extremely similar to previously disclosed vulnerabilities. Three were incompletely patched, which meant that it took just a few tweaks to the hacker’s code for the attack to continue working. Many such attacks, she says, involve basic mistakes and “low hanging fruit.”

This is news? I think it is more self congratulatory just like the late January 2021 explanation of the SolarWinds’ misstep which I discuss in the February 9, 2021 DarkCyber video program. You can view the video on this blog.

Stephen E Arnold, February 4, 2021

Comments

Comments are closed.

  • Archives

  • Recent Posts

  • Meta