Computer security experts scramble to fix ‘vulnerability of the decade’

The log4J vulnerability opens a new front in worldwide cyberattacks, and experts are worried that criminals and others could launch a so-called worm, which is a malicious software code that self-propagates and spreads across the world. — Dreamstime/TNS

WASHINGTON: Criminals, cyber spies, and hackers around the world are launching thousands of attempts every hour to exploit a flaw in a widely used logging software as cybersecurity experts are scrambling to close the loophole and prevent catastrophic attacks.

In early December, a security researcher at Chinese online retailer Alibaba discovered and reported the software flaw in a widely used tool called log4j. The open-source tool is a Java-based library developed by Apache that software developers use to track activity within an application.