April 27, 2024

Hackers have compromised a fence manufacturer’s Windows 7 computer

Great Britain Hackers have breached a fence manufacturer’s Windows 7 computer and appear to have gained access to military bases.

Hackers are always looking for highly innovative methods. (icon image)

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Outdated operating systems pose a risk – especially when confidential data is stored. A British chain link fence manufacturer called “Zaun” recently fell victim to an attack – and lost data leading to sensitive military and research facilities.

British company”a wallIt is, according to its own information, “the last British manufacturer of woven and welded wire fencing systems.” The range includes barriers for stadiums, sports facilities and walkways. Zone products are also used in high-security areas, for example at British research facilities and military bases.

But as safe as the actual fences are, things are quite unsafe behind the scenes. high “RecordHackers from the Lockbit group managed to infiltrate the company’s systems using an old Windows 7 computer in Zaun.

It is assumed that confidential data will not be lost

According to dataa wall“The hackers were able to download about 10 gigabytes of data from a server to which the old computer was providing access. “We do not believe that confidential documents were stored on the system or were compromised,” he says officially. However, they did so with The National newspaper, he says officially. The Cyber ​​Security Center (NCSC) and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) were involved in the attack.

Zaun explained that the attack was noticed before the hackers were able to encrypt the systems. However, one had to admit that some of the data had now ended up on the dark web. But it is said that no classified information was lost.

However, the Register wrote that there were reports of sensitive documents missing. The Fence server apparently contains not only company documents, but also information about access to some of the UK’s most sensitive military and research facilities.

The Department of Defense did not want to comment on what exactly these matters were because, according to the Register, they are internal security matters that are not generally discussed publicly there.

Support for Windows 7 ended earlier this year

It is striking that a manufacturer with connections in the military and research sphere, whose main product is based on security, relies on computers running Windows 7. The digital security fences protecting this old version from attackers have long been officially demolished by Microsoft. Since January 2023, Microsoft has retired the system after about 14 years and no longer provides it with relevant updates. This has been announced often and publicly for years.

The problem: The computer the hackers chose was part of production and had to run proprietary software that appeared to only run on Windows 7. In the meantime, processes were changed and the computer was removed, Zone said.

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