the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Washington DC, according to NJ Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (NJOHSP) a top cybersecurity firm in the United States detailed on December 8 that it fell victim to a recent cyber attack likely linked to a foreign government. FireEye said it was hacked by “a highly sophisticated threat actor, one whose discipline, operational security, and techniques lead us to believe it was a state-sponsored attack.” The firm concluded the attackers were from a nation with “top-tier offensive capabilities” and tailored the hack using a variety of new techniques specifically to target FireEye. The company confirmed tools used to test the cybersecurity of its clients—called “Red Team” tools—were stolen in the hack; however, there is no evidence of their use, and FireEye continues to monitor the situation while developing 300 countermeasures for its customers. FireEye noted there was particular interest from the hackers in certain government customers. The FBI is investigating the incident and said the level of sophistication in the attack is consistent with a nation-state.