"Unveiling the XZ Backdoor: How One Engineer Stopped a Devastating Cyberattack"
TL;DR
A Microsoft engineer discovered that the open source software program XZ Utils had been sabotaged by a developer, potentially creating a backdoor to millions of servers. The developer, believed to be a pseudonym for an expert hacker or group, introduced a nearly invisible backdoor into XZ. The near-miss has raised concerns about the safety of open source software and the need to protect it from well-resourced spies. Government officials and cybersecurity agencies are discussing how to better protect open source code, with calls for tech companies to contribute resources to the open source ecosystem.
Topics:top-newstechnology#cybersecurity#microsoft#open-source-software#software-development#technology#xz-utils
- The Cyberattack Stopped by a Microsoft Engineer Was Scarier Than We Realize Inc.
- Did One Guy Just Stop a Huge Cyberattack? The New York Times
- A chilling near-miss shows how today's digital infrastructure is vulnerable The Economist
- The XZ Backdoor: Everything You Need to Know WIRED
- One engineer’s curiosity may have saved us from a devastating cyber-attack The Guardian
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