Security giant RSA said a sophisticated attack has possibly compromised the two-factor authentication system used by tens of millions of end users of the company's clients, which includes large banks and other corporations and credit unions.

RSA, a division of EMC, placed the attack in the Advanced Persistent Threat category, which typically means the attackers had undetected access to sensitive data for some period of time.

RSA's executive chairman, Art Coviello, said the company has found that information “specifically related” to its widely used SecurID two-factor authentication products was involved.

“While at this time we are confident that the information extracted does not enable a successful direct attack on any of our RSA SecurID customers, this information could potentially be used to reduce the effectiveness of a current two-factor authentication implementation as part of a broader attack,” Coviello said in an open letter posted on the company's website at www.rsa.com.

He called the attack extremely sophisticated and said the company is working with authorities and contacting clients.

“We are committed to applying all necessary resources to give our SecurID customers the tools, processes and support they require to strengthen the security of their IT systems in the face of this incident. Our full support will include a range of RSA and EMC internal resources as well as close engagement with our partner ecosystems and our customers' relevant partners,” Coviello said. 

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.