ISRAELI COMPANY IS BEHIND MALWARE THAT AFFECTED WINDOWS PCS, MICROSOFT SAYS

Fri 16 July 2021:

Microsoft said it believes an Israeli company was behind malware that was used to attack PCs running its Windows operating system.

Microsoft is taking a new effort to reduce internet security issues.

Microsoft’s investigation into their latest breach and zero-day vulnerability came from an Israeli private sector business called “Sourgum,” according to the company’s blog post.

Microsoft calls the organization that sold the software Sourgum, although the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab has said the company is Candiru, Cristin Goodwin, general manager of Microsoft’s Digital Security Unit, wrote in a blog post.

Sourgum is an Israeli-based PSOA that sells spyware products to its clients, and its purpose or intent is to bring harm to them, including that of Microsoft’s recent attack. They are referred to as a “mercenary spyware company” as mentioned by Citizen Lab about Candiru.

The company said Sourgum sells products to government agencies, which can then kick off hacks on various devices. The malware, dubbed DevilsTongue, has been used to attack over 100 victims, including activists, politicians, journalists and embassy workers, Goodwin wrote. Rather than go after large companies, attackers have mainly used DevilsTongue to infiltrate consumer accounts, she wrote.

The company has also been looking for government-backed hackers, such as the Chinese organisation Hafnium, which it believes is responsible for attacks on its Exchange Server email software.

The problem was only recently rectified by Microsoft, and it took them a long time to resolve, with several people claiming that it was ineffective for their experience.

Currently, Microsoft’s systems have been given a patch to protect themselves from the vulnerabilities, and will soon add more layers of protection.

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