By Tahnee Puckett, M.S., Cybersecurity
Security Director of SecureCom Wireless®
What is Ripple20?
A: Ripple20 is a set of 19 vulnerabilities, found in the popular Treck embedded TCP/IP stack. On June 16, researchers disclosed the set of vulnerabilities, which could essentially help attackers take full control of vulnerable devices on a network. It’s dubbed Ripple20 because the initial single vulnerable component may be relatively small, but can “ripple” outward to impact a wide range of industries, applications, companies and people, ultimately affecting hundreds of millions of devices utilizing the popular Treck.
Who is Treck?
A: Treck has been designing, distributing and supporting real-time embedded internet protocols since 1997. The TCP/IP stack, also called the internet protocol suite, is a set of communication protocols used by the internet. The TCP/IP stack works by establishing a set of rules and standards for communication in and between different layers so that different products can communicate with each other because they are developed around the same guidelines.
Who is vulnerable?
A: Ripple20 is a widely used piece of software that can be licensed and integrated into an embedded solution as part of a product’s firmware or into a specific application for distribution. Affected vendors range from one-person boutique shops to Fortune 500 corporations. Industries include medical, transportation, industrial control, enterprise, energy (oil/gas), telecom, retail and commerce, among other industries.
Is DMP vulnerable?
A: DMP does not use the Treck stack in any of its hardware products. Therefore, DMP has no vulnerability from Ripple20.