You’ve probably heard about the Log4j hack; it’s the latest “big, scary, systemic” hack to threaten literally the entire internet. The size and scope of the vulnerability is so large that it may take years to fix. Why? Log4j is a ubiquitous utility program used to log security and performance information for all kinds of consumer and enterprise services, websites, applications, and countless tech products. The vulnerability allows attackers to execute code remotely on a target computer. Said differently, threat actors can easily steal data, install malware, or simply take control of a system.
Here’s the unfortunate part. U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly released a statement on the “log4j” hack. In it she says, “End users will be reliant on their vendors, and the vendor community must immediately identify, mitigate, and patch the wide array of products using this software.”
In other words, there’s nothing you or I can do to protect ourselves. What should we do? Keep your applications and operating systems updated. Install whatever security patches are recommended by your software vendors and hope for the best.
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it.