Kiteworks urges customers to shut down systems over cyberattack threat — TechCrunch

Kiteworks, a company that develops tools for transferring large files and confidential data sets over the internet, advised customers to temporarily shut down their systems because of the risk of a possible cyberattack. The company received credible intelligence from law enforcement that an attacker may target certain Kiteworks systems used by customers.

Precautionary shutdown

As TechCrunch reports, Kiteworks Chief Information Security Officer Frank Balonis said the company directly warned customers and recommended a precautionary window for shutting down systems while it and law enforcement work through the situation.

According to Balonis, Kiteworks is not aware of any compromise of its systems. The warning is preventive in nature and is not a response to an already confirmed security breach.

Risk of zero-day vulnerabilities

In a letter to customers, the company expressed concern about the possible exploitation of vulnerabilities unknown to it. Such flaws are called zero-day vulnerabilities because the vendor has no time to fix them before attackers begin exploiting them.

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Kiteworks recommended that customers shut down their systems before the weekend or earlier to protect themselves from potential attacks using zero-day vulnerabilities. The company noted that it cannot confirm the absence of other avenues of unauthorized access.

Balonis also said that Kiteworks fixed all known vulnerabilities in the latest software release, version 9.5.1, and advises customers to use this version. The company’s website states that its products are used by thousands of organizations in healthcare, technology, education, automotive manufacturing, and the public sector.

Before rebranding at the end of 2021, Kiteworks was called Accellion. Previously, a vulnerability in its file-transfer application enabled a ransomware group to steal data from hundreds of organizations that used the product. The attackers threatened to publish the data if the affected organizations did not pay a ransom.