Keep Your Windows up to date and Your Virus Software!

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 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 cybercriminals even though the Command and Control infrastructure behind this coordinated attack has been taken down. It is important that all computer users take action to prevent themselves from future attacks. Symantec partners and their customers with current antivirus definitions and IPS signatures are already protected. Symantec partners are encouraged to visit our Hydraq Threat Outbreak page and the Symantec Security Response blog. These are the best resources for you and your customers. Security Blog: The Trojan.Hydraq Incident Security Blog: Protect Yourself Against Exploit Targeting New IE Zero-Day Vulnerability Security Response Report: Trojan.Hydraq To stay abreast of the latest security threats and receive timely information on risks, vulnerabilities and virus definitions, we encourage our partners to follow the Symantec Channel account on Twitter, as well as sign up for threat alerts via RSS feeds. We encourage you to reach out to your customers and reassure them that these threats are currently under control and continue to monitor the Hydraq Threat Outbreak page for the latest information.   These attacks were carried out on LARGE Corporations. Most large corps usually have multiple layers of Virus protection including Endpoint Protection, Managed Services, Hosted Services and if all else fails Disaster Recovery. For home users, at a minimum make sure Windows is up to date, Virus Software is up to date and you are backing up your most important info. It is best to scan your system and then back up the whole thing. Tech Plus Solutions is an Authorized Symantec Partner and will soon be offering Back-Up Exec which is a hosted SaaS Solution. We will let you know as soon as we have the various Symantec Products available. In the mean time make sure you keep your products up to date to keep them safe!