McAfee Calls Operation Aurora A "Watershed Moment In Cybersecurity", Offers Guidance

By Robin Wauters
TechCrunch.com
January 17, 2010

Computer and software security company McAfee last week identified a vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer as a key vector in the cyberattacks that hit Google and over 30 other companies in a high-profile, multi-staged and concentrated effort to hack into specific computer systems in order to obtain intellectual property.

Redmond has since issued a security advisory and later published its own risk assessment of the zero-day threat. This morning, McAfee announced that it is offering consumers and businesses further guidance on what it refers to as "Operation Aurora".

And it's bringing out the superlatives to describe the attacks.

George Kurtz, McAfee's worldwide chief technology officer, has been blogging about how the browser vulnerability was exploited for the cyberheist and is now quoted in this morning's press release as saying that it is the "largest and most sophisticated cyberattack we have seen in years targeted at specific corporations".

Kurtz stops short of saying that the planet nearly stopped spinning, but refers to the attack as a "watershed moment in cybersecurity" that has "changed the world".