14 DAY TRIAL // At an RSA security conference in London, company president Tom Heiser, revealed further details on the data breach that took place earlier this year, affecting a number of SecurID cards deployed as a security measure by companies worldwide.
According to PCWorld, the investigations made by the FBI, the DHS and UK law enforcement revealed that two unnamed hacker groups were behind the operation, that even though they were known, they hadn't been seen working together before.
"Our adversary was determined, persistent and very well coordinated. They knew what to look for and where to go," Heiser stated.
It seems as the attackers had knowledge of name systems deployed inside the company and that's how they managed to get by unnoticed. By combining this with some social engineering, they supposedly managed to make good use of an Adobe Flash vulnerability which gave them access to the RSA system.
The organization president also told the audience that the purpose of the attack was clearly to get a hold of U.S. defense-related technology.
Considered to be their “trial by fire," the data breach had not affected as many companies as the media suspected at the time, SecurID information being utilized in only one unsuccessful hacking attempt.
"Many stakeholders felt we could have done more and we should have done more sooner, and to those customers we inconvenienced, we truly apologize," he concluded.
Because no precise information was revealed on the identity of the perpetrators, the investigation probably continues and some time will probably pass until a specific country is blamed for the incident.
It wouldn't be the first time we'd hear of a country such as China as being responsible for spying operations launched against the US. Earlier this year we saw a piece of footage that seemed to show a malicious application that was used to launch attacks from North American servers to various websites and rumors of state-funded hackers closely collaborating with underground masterminds have been circulating for quite a while.