Facebook hit by 'sophisticated' attack
2013-02-16 12:37
San Francisco - Facebook said on Friday its computer
system was "targeted in a sophisticated attack" last month, but that
it found no evidence any user data was compromised.
The company said in a blog post that malware came from an
infected website of a mobile developer and that "we remediated all
infected machines, informed law enforcement, and began a significant
investigation that continues to this day."
The attackers used a previously unseen exploit taking advantage
of a flaw in Java software made by Oracle, which was alerted to the situation
and released a patch the first of February, according to Facebook.
The hackers appeared to be targeting developers and
technology firms based on the website they chose to booby-trap with malicious
code.
"Facebook was not alone in this attack," the
Northern California-based company said.
"It is clear that others were attacked and
infiltrated recently as well."
The US intelligence community has concluded that America
is the target of a massive cyber-espionage campaign that is threatening its
competitiveness, The Washington Post reported just days ago.
Citing unnamed officials, the newspaper said the
conclusion is contained in the National Intelligence Estimate, a classified
report that represents the consensus view of the US intelligence community.
The document, according to the Post, identifies energy,
finance, information technology, aerospace and automotive companies as the most
frequent targets of hacking campaigns that appear state sponsored.
Early this month Twitter said it was hammered by a cyber
attack similar to those that recently hit major Western news outlets, and that
the passwords of about 250 000 users were stolen.
"This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do
not believe it was an isolated incident," Twitter information security
director Bob Lord said in a blog post at the time.
Lord said there was an "uptick in large-scale
security attacks aimed at US technology and media companies," as he told
of Twitter detecting attempts this week to get unauthorized access to data in
the firm's network.
Security breach
The attack coincided with the revelation of several
high-profile security breaches.
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal said that
they had been hacked, and pointed to attackers from China.
It was unknown whether the cyber attack on San
Francisco-based Twitter was related to high-powered hacker assaults on
Facebook, the Times or the Journal.
Brazen cyber attacks on America's most high-profile media
outlets revived concerns over Chinese hackers, who analysts say are likely
linked to the secretive Beijing government.
The Times and the Journal reported that their computer
networks had been compromised, alleging it was an effort by the Chinese
government to spy on news media operating in the country.
The administration of President Barack Obama is trying to
counter the electronic theft of trade secrets by lodging formal protests,
expelling diplomatic personnel, imposing travel and visa restrictions, and
complaining to the World Trade Organisation, the Post said.
