Great Britain
Hackers cracked a fence manufacturer’s Windows 7 PC – and apparently gained access to military bases
Hackers are always looking for extremely creative approaches. (icon picture)
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Old operating systems are a risk – especially where secret data is kept. The British manufacturer of chain link fences called “Zaun” was recently the victim of an attack – and lost data leading to sensitive military and research facilities.
But no matter how secure the actual wire mesh fences may be, things are apparently going on behind the scenes just as unsafe. Loud “The Register“Hackers from the Lockbit group managed to sneak into the company’s systems via an old Windows 7 PC at “Zaun”.
Allegedly no loss of secret data
According to data from “Fence“The hackers managed to load around 10 gigabytes of data from a server to which the old computer gave access. Officially, it says: “We do not believe that secret documents were stored on the system or were compromised.” Nevertheless, I did the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) were notified of the attack.
“Zaun” explained that the attack was noticed before the hackers could encrypt the systems. Nevertheless, one had to admit that some data had now ended up on the dark web. Secret information was not lost, it is said.
However, “The Register” writes that there have been reports of some sensitive documents being lost. Because the “fence” server apparently contained not only company documents, but also information about access to some of the most sensitive military and research facilities in the United Kingdom.
The Ministry of Defense did not want to comment on exactly what those were, because, according to The Register, they are internal security issues that are generally not discussed publicly there.
Support for Windows 7 ended earlier this year
It is quite remarkable that a manufacturer with contacts in the military and research, whose main product is itself based on security, relies on computers with Windows 7. Because the digital security fences that protect this old version from attackers have long since been officially torn down by Microsoft. Since January 2023, Microsoft has scrapped the system after around 14 years and no longer provided it with relevant updates. This has been communicated publicly and often for years.
The problem: The computer that the hackers chose was part of the production and had to run special software that apparently only ran on Windows 7. In the meantime, the processes have been changed and the computer removed, said “Zaun”.
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