Software supply chain attacks, once the exclusive province of sophisticated state-sponsored attackers, have been gaining popularity recently among a broader range of cyber criminals. Attackers everywhere have realized that software supply chain attacks can be very effective, and can result in a large number of compromised victims. Software supply chain attacks more than tripled in 2021 when compared with 2020. Why are software supply chain attacks so effective? Organizations that possess solid cyber defenses may be difficult to attack directly. However, these same organizations are likely vulnerable to a software supply chain attack because they still regularly run/build software obtained from vendors who are trusted.
Rather than attacking an entire software repository itself, or identifying an unpatched vulnerability in a software package, compromising the software supply chain can be as simple as attacking the accounts of the package developers and maintainers. Most software repositories track the identities of their software developers using those developers’ email addresses. If a cybercriminal somehow gains access to a developer’s email account, the attacker can theoretically generate password reset emails at these software repositories and take over the account belonging to that developer. Once inside, an attacker could then publish malicious updates to the code maintained by that developer, affecting every other piece of software that uses that library from then on.
Read more…
Source: Talos