Australian companies caught up in RSA SecurID token attack

The aftermath of the RSA SecurID token attack which occurred in March and led to the replacement of thousands of tokens, has continued with the revelation that customers of Australian Internet service providers (ISPs), including Telstra and iiNet, may have been compromised.

This was because hackers used the same command and control techniques that infiltrated RSA to target 760 companies around the world.

US-based security blogger, Brian Krebs, who has compiled a list of the companies targeted, wrote that many of the network owners listed are ISPs and were included because some of their subscribers were hit.

“It is not clear how many systems in each of these companies or networks were compromised, for how long those intrusions persisted, or whether the attackers successfully stole sensitive information from all of the victims,” Krebs wrote.

“Finally, some of these companies, such as the anti-virus vendors, may be represented because they intentionally compromised internal systems in an effort to reverse engineer malware used in these attacks.”

RSA president, Tom Heiser, recently said the attacks were sophisticated: they used advanced techniques to connect to RSA's systems and used different malware, some of which was compiled just hours before an attack. The information stolen was compressed and encrypted before it was exfiltrated, making it more difficult to identify.

The two hacker groups stole specific information about SecurID, but RSA has declined to explain what was stolen.

In August, RSA’s ANZ general manager, Andy Solterbeck, told Computerworld Australia that the attack was committed by a nation state and that it was still a few months away from replacing all of the SecurID tokens in the Australian marketplace.

The company has offered large customers, such as ANZ Banking Group, an early renewal of their contracts along with new devices, while smaller users were able to get free contract extensions. It has also offered to help with risk mitigation.

Got a security tip-off? Contact Hamish Barwick at hamish_barwick at idg.com.au

Follow Hamish Barwick on Twitter: @HamishBarwick

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU