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Data stolen from the targets might also have been shared with others in Russia, if that is where the hacker is working, for his own protection, said Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer for Trend Micro Inc. "This is not over," Kellermann said. "The real question now is how many backdoors are still in these systems that have yet to be detected."

"This iteration of ransomware targeting Linux servers is an escalation," said Paul Ferguson, a senior threat research advisor at Trend Micro.

The media processing layer is prone to vulnerabilities and attacks, said Trend Micro’s Christopher Budd. The operating system takes the data from Web services and executes it as a lower-level process, and handling the shift correctly can be tricky. It is easy to introduce mistakes in this layer.

But Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer at the security firm Trend Micro, says the timing of the announcement makes sense, given the Angler and Nuclear zero-day malware exploit kits now in widespread use. "I was at the [Oct. 25-28] FS-ISAC Fall Summit, and I think the presentations woke up regulators," he says.

The security flaw was discovered in mid-October, when it was found being exploited by the Russia-linked Pawn Storm threat group in attacks aimed at Foreign Affairs Ministries. The vulnerability affects all Flash releases up to version 19.0.0.226 for Mac and Windows, and Flash Player 11.2.202.540 for Linux, and was discovered by researchers at Trend Micro.

Law enforcement traditionally has struggled to chase down cybercriminals who use ransomware, said Marco Balduzzi, a senior security engineer and researcher at Trend Micro, who researches the dark Web.

Trend Micro plans to integrate the company to create a network defense unit for enterprise clients.

The enterprise IT industry continues to get its ducks in line. On the heels of Dell buying EMC for $67 billion, Western Digital buying SanDisk for $19 billion and rumblings of more M&A to come, HP is moving out of owning assets in the network security business. Today the company announced that it will sell TippingPoint — a provider of next-generation intrusion systems and network security solutions — to security specialist Trend Micro

The FBI and Secret Service are investigating reports that the personal account of CIA Director John Brennan may have been hacked by a teenager. Tom Kellerman, former Commissioner on President Obama’s Cyber Security Commission and Dave Chronister, Founder of Parameter.

The CVE-2015-7645 vulnerability is actively exploited by the Pawn Storm group in attacks targeting several foreign affairs ministries from around the globe, security researchers from Trend Micro reported Tuesday.