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Some Dell Systems Are At Risk Of New Hacks

By May 25, 2019May 19th, 2022Cybersecurity

Do you use Dell equipment at home or in your office?

If so, then the recent discovery made by independent security researcher Bill Demirkapi should give you pause.

Recently, Mr. Demrikapi discovered a flaw in the company’s SupportAssist utility that comes pre-installed on most Dell systems.

If you have an older Dell, know that SupportAssist was recently re-branded and was formerly known as Dell System Detect, which may be a name you’re more familiar with.  At the root though, it’s the same code and both versions of the code have the same flaw.

The program is designed to interact with Dell’s support website. This is where it will scan for service codes and tags that match your system and then automatically download and install driver updates as needed to keep your system up to snuff. It’s a good piece of software that performs a valuable function, so it probably comes as no surprise that hackers took note and promptly found a way to take advantage of the code’s functionality.

Dell, who has been working with Mr. Demirkapi since he reported the issue to them, explains it thusly:

“An unauthenticated attacker, sharing the network access layer with the vulnerable system, can compromise the vulnerable system by tricking a victim user into downloading and executing arbitrary executables via SupportAssist client from attacker hosted sites.”

In essence, the hackers use a variety of tricks to fool your system into thinking it’s getting updates from Dell, when in fact, it’s being fed poisoned files from a site controlled by hackers.

The bug impacts all Dell SupportAssist Client versions prior to version 3.2.0.90.  The company has already fixed the issue. The main takeaway here is to check your SupportAssist version number to see if you’re in the safe zone, and if not, download the latest version right away.

Jason Manteiga

Jason J. Manteiga, Vice President of Olmec Systems, has been part of the company for over the past 20 years. He believes that having a great work environment and supportive team, is the ultimate key to success. Since being in the IT realm for over 25 years, Jason, along with Olmec Systems, has been on the Inc. 5000 “List of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” and Channel Futures MSP 501 “Top Managed Service Providers in North America,” along with other awards and nominations. Jason earned his Bachelor Degree in Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also holds certifications in Microsoft MCSE, VMWare VCP, and Cisco CCNA. In his spare time, Jason is a contributor for The Center for Social & Legal Research (Privacy Exchange) and a member of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce. His hobbies include cycling and kayaking. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, two daughters and son.