The security threat involves the widely used NPM package named 'is', which reportedly has approximately 2.8 million weekly downloads. This package was found to be infected with malware, thereby posing a significant risk to developers and organizations that rely on it for their software projects. The infection likely occurred through a compromised version of the package, which when installed, could execute malicious code within the developer's environment. Given the nature of NPM packages, which are often dependencies in larger projects, the malware could propagate through the software supply chain, potentially affecting numerous downstream applications and services. The infection vector is through the package manager, which is a trusted source for JavaScript libraries, making detection and prevention more challenging. Although no specific affected versions or detailed technical indicators are provided, the high download volume indicates a broad exposure. The malware infection could lead to unauthorized code execution, data exfiltration, or further compromise of development environments. The source of this information is a Reddit post in the InfoSecNews subreddit, corroborated by a report on BleepingComputer, a reputable cybersecurity news outlet. There are no known exploits in the wild reported yet, but the potential for exploitation remains high due to the package's popularity and the critical role of dependencies in modern software development.

For European organizations, the impact of this malware infection in the 'is' NPM package could be substantial. Many European companies, especially those in technology, finance, and critical infrastructure sectors, rely heavily on JavaScript and Node.js ecosystems, which use NPM packages extensively. The malware could compromise the integrity of software builds, leading to the introduction of backdoors, data leaks, or disruption of services. This could result in intellectual property theft, regulatory non-compliance (especially under GDPR), financial losses, and reputational damage. Additionally, supply chain attacks like this can undermine trust in software development processes and delay project timelines due to necessary incident response and remediation efforts. The infection could also indirectly affect European software vendors who distribute products containing the compromised package, amplifying the threat's reach.

European organizations should implement a multi-layered approach to mitigate this threat: 1) Immediately audit and identify usage of the 'is' package in all projects and dependencies. 2) Temporarily halt deployments involving this package until a clean, verified version is available. 3) Use software composition analysis (SCA) tools to detect and monitor dependencies for known malicious packages. 4) Employ strict package integrity verification methods such as npm's package-lock.json and checksum validation to prevent tampered packages from being installed. 5) Implement runtime monitoring and behavior analysis to detect anomalous activities indicative of malware execution. 6) Educate developers about the risks of supply chain attacks and encourage the use of trusted package sources and maintainers. 7) Collaborate with upstream maintainers and the NPM security team to ensure rapid patching and removal of malicious versions. 8) Consider adopting package whitelisting or allowlisting policies to restrict usage to vetted dependencies only. 9) Regularly update incident response plans to include supply chain compromise scenarios.