Trend Micro Q1 2013 Security Roundup Report Highlights Concerns over Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Increasingly Destructive Attacks

Zero-days progress into attack kits before patches are available

News provided by

Apr 23, 2013, 08:11 ET

CUPERTINO, Calif., April 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Trend Micro's (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704) Q1 2013 Security Roundup Report, the company's researchers raised the alarm about zero-day vulnerabilities in addition to concerns about the recent concentrated attack in South Korea. Collectively, these events demonstrate that zero-day vulnerabilities remain a threat while attack innovations are growing in sophistication, intensity and severity.

Trend Micro's synopsis of prominent Q1 threats, includes:

Zero-Day Attacks
New attacks against Oracle's Java and Adobe's Flash Player, Acrobat and Reader reveal that vulnerabilities are emerging faster than they can be patched and are quickly being incorporated into professional attack kits such as the "Black Hole Exploit Kit."

"Of course Java is cross-platform and that is somewhat attractive to criminals, but what is really attractive is its vulnerabilities and its ubiquity," said Rik Ferguson, Trend Micro's VP, Security Research. "This definitely won't be the last zero-day vulnerability in Java and it won't be the end of the vast attack surface that it currently offers to criminals."

Attacks on South Korea
The high-profile attacks executed in South Korea this March reinforce that theft is no longer the sole focus of hacking efforts, but rather these breaches are also designed to cripple critical networks via innovative techniques including:

Multiplatform focus such as UNIX and LINUX
Specific countermeasures for installed security software
Hijacking of patch management systems

"Given the capability of what took place in South Korea, it is likely that increasingly destructive attacks will continue to be a threat," said Tom Kellermann, VP, Cyber Security. "With each quarter, attacks are becoming bolder and more targeted, pointing to concerns far beyond the compromise of personal data."

For the complete report, please visit: http://www.trendmicro.com/cloud-content/us/pdfs/security-intelligence/reports/rpt-zero-days-hit-users-hard-at-the-start-of-the-year.pdf.

A blog post regarding the report can be viewed here:
http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/1q-security-roundup-zero-days-dominate.

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), the global cloud security leader, creates a world safe for exchanging digital information with its Internet content security and threat management solutions for businesses and consumers. A pioneer in server security with over 20 years' experience, we deliver top-ranked client, server and cloud-based security that fits our customers' and partners' needs, stops new threats faster, and protects data in physical, virtualized and cloud environments. Powered by the industry-leading Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ global threat intelligence data mining framework, our products and services stop threats where they emerge – from the Internet. They are supported by 1,000+ threat intelligence experts around the globe.

Additional information about Trend Micro Incorporated and the products and services are available at Trend Micro.com. This Trend Micro news release and other announcements are available at http://newsroom.trendmicro.com/ and as part of an RSS feed at www.trendmicro.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @TrendMicro.

SOURCE Trend Micro