Trend Micro site compromised

The last thing a person expects is to have their computer exposed to malware during a visit to a security vendor’s website. But those visiting the site of Tokyo-based Trend Micro may have experienced that scenario.

The Japanese press is buzzing about hackers altering several pages on the firm’s Japanese and English-language site last Sunday and using a malicious iFrame exploit to inject a Trojan horse into the machines of site visitors. Trend Micro appears to have uncovered the problem Wednesday and replaced the tainted pages with a message saying “This page is temporarily shut down for emergency maintenance.”

Trend Micro admits visitors could be infected by malware it has named JS_DLOADER.TZE after accessing one of the infected webpages or clicking on a malicious URL.

One of Trend Micro’s competitors offered the company some sympathy on its website while using the incident as an opportunity to pitch its own products.

“What has happened here is a criminal act, and our friends at Trend Micro (and people visiting the hacked pages) are victims of the crime,” security vendor Sophos said on its website. “Sadly it’s not an uncommon crime these days - and all kinds of businesses have suffered. This isn’t the time or place to make cheap shots against a competitor. All other companies with a Web presence should take this unfortunate incident as an opportunity to check that their own websites are properly secured (see our recently published technical paper on the subject), and ensure that they have web-filtering solutions - like the WS1000 Web Appliance - in place.”

Taking the high road is smart on Sophos’ part. After all, the next vendor site to be compromised could be its own.