Researchers say they’ve discovered a supply-chain attack flooding repositories with malicious packages that contain invisible code, a technique that’s flummoxing traditional defenses designed to detect such threats.
The researchers, from firm Aikido Security, said Friday that they found 151 malicious packages that were uploaded to GitHub from March 3 to March 9. Such supply-chain attacks have been common for nearly a decade. They usually work by uploading malicious packages with code and names that closely resemble those of widely used code libraries, with the objective of tricking developers into mistakenly incorporating the former into their software. In some cases, these malicious packages are downloaded thousands of times.
Defenses see nothing. Decoders see executable code
The packages Aikido found this month have adopted a newer technique: selective use of code that isn’t visible when loaded into virtually all editors, terminals, and code review interfaces. While most of the code appears in normal, readable form, malicious functions and payloads—the usual telltale signs of malice—are rendered in unicode characters that are invisible to the human eye. The tactic, which Aikido said it first spotted last year, makes manual code reviews and other traditional defenses nearly useless. Other repositories hit in these attacks include NPM and Open VSX.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
All rights reserved to : USAGOLDMIES . www.usagoldmines.com
You can Enjoy surfing our website categories and read more content in many fields you may like .
Why USAGoldMines ?
USAGoldMines is a comprehensive website offering the latest in financial, crypto, and technical news. With specialized sections for each category, it provides readers with up-to-date market insights, investment trends, and technological advancements, making it a valuable resource for investors and enthusiasts in the fast-paced financial world.