Hackers getting smarter, breach U.S. cybersecurity firm

December 9, 2020

By: Madison Neal, WHNT News 19

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – FireEye, one of the nation’s largest cybersecurity companies was recently hacked. The hackers stole internal tools that FireEye uses to test their own client’s cybersecurity.

The vice president at Gray Analytics, a cybersecurity solutions company for defense contractors here in Huntsville, says we could all clean up our cyber hygiene to protect ourselves.

The hackers have specifically identified and hacked the tools and logic that the United States cyber security firm developed to serve its customers.

“Red team tools are those solutions we use to go into a network, determine that network’s vulnerabilities so we can wrap cyber solution services around it, and prevent them. It’s plugging the holes in the dam essentially,” says Gray Analytics Vice President Jay Town.

Town says the bad guys now know FireEye’s tactics and techniques and can more easily conduct hacks on businesses and agencies.

“They can use them to steal trade secrets, intellectual property, personal identifiable information, credit card information, financial information… all those things that we as businesses and individuals hold dear,” says Town.

And although this is a large scale event, Town says it could happen to anyone, anywhere.

“If you do not take good measures, for your personal usage or your business, you could be the next victim. So if it can happen to one of the top five cyber security companies in the world it can happen anywhere,” says Town.

FireEye has released counter measures to those using their services to try to defeat these hackers from gaining further access into companies or government agencies.

Source: https://whnt.com/news/huntsville/hackers-getting-smarter-breach-u-s-cybersecurity-firm/