Hackers targeted 'about 1 million' ASUS users with backdoor software

Hackers have targeted over a million ASUS devices by compromising system updates to install a malicious backdoor on ASUS laptops and desktops, according to a blog post from Kaspersky.

The hackers apparently modified the ASUS Live Update Utility, which delivers BIOS, UEFI, and software updates to ASUS laptops and desktops.

Kaspersky estimate that around 57,000 users actually installed the compromised software, but it was distributed to around 1 million people.

This wasn’t just your average hack. The utility was signed with a legitimate certificate and the hackers even ensured that the hacked file size matched the original one. The compromised update was even hosted on the official ASUS server.

Strangely enough, the hackers didn’t seem interested in how many systems they could hack, despite putting so much effort into backdooring the software. They were more interested in targeting approximately 600 specific MAC addresses.

While investigating the attack, Kaspersky discovered that identical techniques were used against software from three other vendors. Kaspersky have said that they’ve notified ASUS and the other companies about the attack.

Kaspersky say that as of now, their investigation is still ongoing, but all Kaspersky Lab solutions will detect and block the trojanised utilities. They also suggest that if you’re an ASUS user, you update the ASUS Live Update Utility.

We’ll post an update if anything big develops.

Source: Kaspersky.