Non-Profit Cybersecurity Org MITRE Discloses Data Breach

MITRE, a prominent nonprofit organization dedicated to public interest research and development, disclosed a significant cybersecurity breach within one of its key research networks, the Networked Experimentation, Research, and Virtualization Environment (NERVE). This incident has underscored the persistent and sophisticated nature of cyber threats today, even against organizations that maintain high cybersecurity standards.

“MITRE today disclosed that despite its fervent commitment to safeguarding its digital assets, it experienced a breach that underscores the nature of modern cyber threats,” reads the press release.

“After detecting suspicious activity on its Networked Experimentation, Research, and Virtualization Environment (NERVE), a collaborative network used for research, development, and prototyping, compromise by a foreign nation-state threat actor was confirmed.”

MITRE is known for its extensive work in cybersecurity, developing frameworks and tools such as ATT&CK®, Engage™, D3FEND™, and CALDERA™, which have been widely adopted across the global cybersecurity community. Given MITRE’s influential role in shaping cybersecurity practices and their focus on advancing threat-informed defense, this breach highlights critical vulnerabilities that could have wider implications for the cybersecurity landscape.

According to additional information made available here, the breach was first identified through unusual activity on MITRE's NERVE network, an unclassified platform providing essential resources for collaboration in research and development. The intrusion was attributed to a foreign nation-state actor, marking a significant escalation in cyber threats facing MITRE. This network did not affect MITRE’s core enterprise network or its partners' systems, a relief in the context of potential widespread repercussions.

Upon detection, MITRE swiftly responded by taking the compromised environment offline and initiating an in-depth investigation with the help of both in-house experts and third-party cybersecurity professionals. Their immediate actions included isolating affected systems to prevent further damage and contacting law enforcement and affected stakeholders.

The investigation revealed that the adversaries exploited vulnerabilities in MITRE’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) solutions, specifically through two Ivanti Connect Secure zero-day vulnerabilities. The attackers managed to bypass multi-factor authentication via session hijacking, then moved laterally within the network, ultimately gaining deep access to the network’s VMware infrastructure.

As part of their ongoing response, MITRE has prioritized understanding the full scope of the breach, the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by the adversaries, and improving their defense strategies based on these insights. They have also provided initial guidance on best practices for detection and network hardening, emphasizing the need for strong authentication, regular patch management, and network segmentation.

MITRE’s decision to publicly disclose this breach underscores their commitment to transparency and their role in supporting the broader cybersecurity community. By sharing details of the breach and their response, MITRE aims to help other organizations enhance their defenses against similar threats.