A Solid Opening Quarter of 2024 for A1 Group
In the first quarter of 2024, Austrian-based A1 Group reported solid results.
There’s a blame game brewing over who’s responsible for the massive cyberattack that infected hundreds of thousands of computers. Microsoft is pointing its finger at the U.S. government, while some experts say the software giant is accountable too, according to Bloomberg.
Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith blamed the NSA’s practice of developing hacking methods to use against the U.S. government’s own enemies. The problem is that once those vulnerabilities become public, they can be used by others. In March, thousands of leaked CIA documents exposed vulnerabilities in smartphones, televisions and software built by Apple, Google and Samsung.
The argument that it’s the NSA’s fault has merit, according to Alex Abdo, staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Still, he said Microsoft should accept some responsibility. “Technology companies owe their customers a reliable process for patching security vulnerabilities,“ he said. “When a design flaw is discovered in a car, manufacturers issue a recall. Yet, when a serious vulnerability is discovered in software, many companies respond slowly or say it’s not their problem.“
Microsoft released a patch for the flaw in March after hackers stole the exploit from the NSA. But some organizations didn’t apply it, and others were running older versions of Windows that Microsoft no longer supports. In what it said was a “highly unusual“ step, Microsoft also agreed to provide the patch for older versions of Windows, including Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. But with making an exception this time and providing the patch free to XP users, the company may come under pressure to do the same next time it issues a critical security update.
Some intelligence agency experts questioned NSA criticism, saying it’s unreasonable for the company to ask governments to stop using its products as a way to attack and monitor enemies. “For Microsoft to say that governments should stop developing exploits to Microsoft products is naive,“ said Brian Lord, a managing director at PGI Cyber and former deputy director at the Government Communications Headquarters, one of the U.K.’s intelligence agencies. “To keep the world safe these things have to be done.“ He said that intelligence agencies tended to be good and responsible stewards of the hacks and exploits they develop. “Occasionally mistakes happen,“ he added.