US Security Report - Backdoor Trojan Hits Defense Contractors

Defense Industrial Base Sector 10. August 27, SC Magazine – (National) Riding low and slow, Hikit targets U.S. defense contractors. Researchers at security firm Mandiant have identified a backdoor trojan, called Hikit, which has targeted a small number of defense contractors in the United States. A principal consultant at the Washington, D.C.-based company, told SCMagazine August 27 that the malware, first discovered in 2011, fell into the category of an advanced persistent threat. As opposed to financial fraud, the goal of the attackers behind Hikit is to conduct industrial espionage and steal sensitive data, he said. The trojan itself is not used to initiate a breach, but to exploit an existing server vulnerability so that attackers can maintain access to victims’ data. Hikit can run commands on a targeted server, as well as transfer files to retrieve data and redirect traffic within other systems of the victims’ internal network.