Introduction

In this digital world, our lives and work are closely connected to the internet. For the working class in Hong Kong, protecting their digital information and cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important.

The Emerging Threat

Recently, a hacker group named Water Hydra is actively exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Defender. This vulnerability was discovered by the Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) research team of Trend Micro on the last day of 2023 and was first made public on February 13 this year.

The Implications

The risk of this vulnerability is that it can be used by hackers to attack any industry or business. Some Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups, motivated by profit, are actively exploiting this vulnerability to infiltrate foreign exchange markets, thereby affecting high-risk foreign exchange markets.

The Attack Strategy

Hackers use this vulnerability in complex zero-day attacks to bypass the protection mechanism of Windows Defender SmartScreen, causing the victim’s computer to be infected with the DarkMe Remote Access Trojan (RAT) for data theft and ransomware infection.

The Defense Mechanism

Trend Micro has adopted a multi-layered defense strategy against this discovered vulnerability to guard against advanced threats. Their Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) provides virtual patches to comprehensively block attacks exploiting the CVE-2024-21412 vulnerability.

The Financial Impact

According to Trend Micro’s estimates, during 2023, all corporate customers who have applied all virtual patches as required can save an average of $1 million.

The Future of Cybersecurity

Kevin Simzer, COO of Trend Micro, said that zero-day vulnerabilities are becoming a common tool for hackers, which is why they have invested a lot of resources in building threat intelligence to protect customers in advance, months before vendors release official patch updates.

Conclusion

For the working class in Hong Kong, understanding this information and taking appropriate protective measures is very important. We should always be vigilant and ensure our digital information and cybersecurity. We should also regularly update our protection software to prevent hackers from exploiting any possible vulnerabilities. In this digital world, our cybersecurity is our life security. Let’s work together to protect our digital lives.