Symmetric Engineering Group

A Message from Symantec: WARNING!

Recent Hydraq cyber attack: What you need to know

A zero-day vulnerability recently identified in Microsoft Internet Explorer was used as an entry point for a coordinated set of cyber attacks that has been carried out on dozens of large enterprises. Please be advised that Symantec is working to keep our partners and customers informed on these cyber attacks known as Hydraq (also known as Aurora, Google Attacks, and the Microsoft IE Vulnerability (advisory number 979352). The malware behind most of these attacks, "Trojan.Hydraq" appears to have been part of a sophisticated attack pattern designed to steal large amounts of intellectual property. Your customers may have become aware of this event from the heavy media coverage about the attacks on Google.

The underlying vulnerabilities used in this attack are now widely known and likely to be exploited by other cyber-criminals even though the Command and Control infrastructure behind this coordinated attack has been taken down.

Visit the links below to find out more on the attacks.

• Security Blog: The Trojan.Hydraq Incident
• Security Blog: Protect Yourself Against Exploit Targeting New IE Zero-Day Vulnerability
• Security Response Report: Trojan.Hydraq