Product Security Updates

January 8, 2018

BACKGROUND

On January 4th, Intel and others announced the Meltdown and Spectre (CVE-2017-5715, CVE-2017-5753, and CVE-2017-5754) set of vulnerabilities. Meltdown and Spectre are two vulnerability techniques researchers have discovered that exploit a flaw in computer processors. These vulnerabilities could allow malicious code to gain access to higher-privileged processes and data in memory across multiple operating systems. These vulnerabilities are not exclusive to Beckman Coulter or medical devices. Early public reports indicate that this vulnerability issue potentially affects every processor-based computer and/or electronic device that has been manufactured over the last 5 to 10 years.

RESPONSE

Beckman Coulter is aggressively evaluating the potential risk and cybersecurity vulnerability profiles of both our software solutions and instrument software products. Beckman Coulter is focusing our investigation on products that have a direct network connection because any attack would require local or physical access to exploit the identified vulnerabilities. Accordingly, Beckman Coulter has determined the potential risk to be low-impact for products that are not networked or are behind a firewall. Beckman Coulter will perform validation and verification of any applicable patches. Any patches required for networked devices will be released per Beckman Coulter’s specific product update and patching policy.

June 28, 2017

BACKGROUND

Petya ransomware first appeared on Tuesday, June 27, 2017. Petya is similar to WannaCry in that it primarily uses the "Eternal Blue" SMBv1 exploit, leaked by the Shadow Brokers from stolen NSA code, to enter the system. Later reports surfaced that Petya is using an HTA attack (CVE2017-0199) as well, allowing for a phishing approach that may bypass firewalls that should be blocking inbound port 445. Petya encrypts the Master File Table (MFT) for NTFS partitions and overwrites the Master Boot Record (MBR) with a custom bootloader. To release encrypted data, the ransomware demands an average payment of $300 in bitcoins. Systems that have already applied the Microsoft's MS17-010 security patch are not vulnerable to the EternalBlue exploit used by Petya.

RESPONSE

Teams at Beckman Coulter are aggressively evaluating the risk and cybersecurity vulnerability profiles of both our software solutions and instrument software products. During the WannaCry attack, R&D teams validated the installation of the MS17-010 Microsoft security patch and where appropriate, developed specific customer instructions for those systems. Systems that have already had Microsoft's MS17-010 security patch applied are not vulnerable to the EternalBlue exploit used by Petya.

Some products do not use or rely on a Microsoft Windows-based operating system and therefore are not vulnerable to or affected by WannaCry ransomware. Please see product-specific information page for more information. For products that have customer installation instructions for WannaCry, these can also be used for this Petya ransomware to apply the MS17-010 patch.

MICROSOFT SECURITY BULLETIN MS17-010

Released in March 2017, this update addressed the Microsoft security vulnerability exploited by "Eternal Blue" SMBv1 exploit. We suggest that customers who have not already applied this update consult the product-specific information page before doing so. In addition, as the complexity of customer system configurations varies greatly, we strongly recommend that our customers work with their IT departments to ensure compatibility of the software update with their networked systems.

May 19, 2017

BACKGROUND

WannaCry ransomware first appeared on Friday, May 12, 2017. Since then, WannaCry has attacked computers worldwide-spreading itself across organizations’ networks by exploiting vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows operating systems without the MS17-010 Microsoft security patch. WannaCry encrypts data on infected machines and demands ransom payments to decrypt the data.

RESPONSE

Teams at Beckman Coulter are aggressively evaluating the risk and cybersecurity vulnerability profiles of both our software solutions and instrument software products. Where appropriate, teams are validating the installation of the MS17-010 Microsoft security patch and developing specific customer instructions for those systems.

Some products do not use or rely on a Microsoft Windows-based operating system and therefore are not vulnerable to or affected by WannaCry ransomware. Please see product-specific information page for more information.

We will provide more product-specific information as our evaluation of the issue continues and new information becomes available.

MICROSOFT SECURITY BULLETIN MS17-010

Released in March 2017, this update addressed the Microsoft security vulnerability exploited by WannaCry ransomware. We suggest that customers who have not already applied this update consult the product-specific information page before doing so. In addition, as the complexity of customer system configurations varies greatly, we strongly recommend that our customers work with their IT departments to ensure compatibility of the software update with their networked systems.

For additional technical details and indicators associated with this ransomware, please review the latest update from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: US-CERT Alert (TA17-132A).