China hacks into for the past five years governments and companies in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. That claims at least a beveiligingsonderzoeker of McAfee. The hacks would take place through phishing.
The hacks are carried out by employees of governments, non-profit organizations and businesses receive an e-mail with a link. If the user click that link, malware with a backdoor installed, says McAfee. Through the account of the person who clicked the link, then in systems when. The information obtained can be forwarded. In some cases, allowed the attackers more than two years to gather information.
The victims were mostly public authorities, companies that work for governments and organizations that have to do with the Olympics. McAfee reports only successful attacks, it is unclear where the attack is repulsed. The security company came the attack on the rail through its software, which in 2009 for the first time, suspected cases noted.
McAfee thinks that China is behind this attack, because in almost all the countries of South-east Asia, attacks are carried out, while China remained outside shot, able to read in Vanity Fair. In addition, various ‘Olympic’ attacks carried out around 2008, the year when the Beijing Games were held. In addition, the companies, institutions and governments that have been attacked, information that the Chinese state wanted to have. The security company calls the weiter Operation Shady RAT. RAT stands in this case for remote access tool, the genre including the malware. McAfee has are findings summarized in a white paper.
The attack was concentrated in the United States, but also in Europe are some of the successful attacks carried out. This allowed the attackers in 2008 a half of poking around in the systems of a Danish satellietcommunicatiebedrijf. From 2008 to 2010, they had access to systems of the UN in Switzerland. Then, in 2009, gained access to internal information of a company that does business for the British army and a German accounting firm.
Many of the organisations involved deny to have been hacked, which McAfee attributes to an unwillingness to admit it. McAfee calls for more cyber-security, where the interest has, as the creator of the software that is required. Outside the claims of McAfee, there is little supporting evidence for the big weiter.
