<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/46905562.cms" />In a report released on Monday, FireEye said the cyber espionage operations dated back to at least 2005 and "focused on targets - government and commercial - who hold key political, economic and military information about the region."

	 
	"Such a sustained, planned development effort coupled with the (hacking) group's regional targets and mission, lead us to believe that this activity is state-sponsored - most likely the <keyword id="71798" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Chinese-government">Chinese government</keyword>," the report's authors said. 
	 
	<keyword id="2543033" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Bryce-Boland">Bryce Boland</keyword>, Chief Technology Officer for Asia Pacific at FireEye and co-author of the report, said the attack was still ongoing, noting that the servers the attackers used were still operational, and that FireEye continued to see attacks against its customers, who number among the targets. 
	 
	<keyword id="76338" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Reuters">Reuters</keyword> couldn't independently confirm any of the assertions made in the report.

	China has always denied accusations that it uses the Internet to spy on governments, organisations and companies. Neither the <keyword id="47025" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Foreign-ministry">Foreign Ministry</keyword> nor the <keyword id="2532678" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Cyberspace-Administration-of-China">Cyberspace Administration of China</keyword>, the Internet regulator, immediately responded to written requests for comment on the FireEye report on Monday.<o:p></o:p>

	China has been accused before of targeting countries in South and Southeast Asia. In 2011, researchers from McAfee reported a campaign dubbed Shady Rat which attacked Asian governments and institutions, among other targets.<o:p></o:p>

	Efforts by the 10-member <keyword id="157877" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Association-of-Southeast-Asian-Nations">Association of Southeast Asian Nations</keyword> (<keyword id="5891" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="ASEAN">ASEAN</keyword>) to build cyber defences have been sporadic. While ASEAN has long acknowledged its importance, "very little has come of this discourse," said <keyword id="2806580" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Miguel-Gomez">Miguel Gomez</keyword>, a <keyword id="14962" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="researcher">researcher</keyword> at De La Salle University in the Philippines.<o:p></o:p>

	The problem is not new: Singapore has reported sophisticated cyber-espionage attacks on civil servants in several ministries dating back to 2004.<o:p></o:p>

	UNDETECTED<o:p></o:p>

	The campaign described by FireEye differs from other such operations mostly in its scale and longevity, Boland said.<o:p></o:p>

	He said the group appeared to include at least two software developers. The report did not offer other indications of the possible size of the group or where it's based.<o:p></o:p>

	The group remained undetected for so long it was able to re-use methods and <keyword id="54201" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Malware">malware</keyword> dating back to 2005, and developed its own system to manage and prioritize attacks, even organising shifts to cope with the workload and different languages of its targets, Boland told Reuters.<o:p></o:p>

	The attackers focused not only on governments, but on ASEAN itself, as well as corporations and journalists interested in China. Other targets included Indian or Southeast Asian-based companies in sectors such as construction, energy, transport, telecommunications and aviation, FireEye says.<o:p></o:p>

	Mostly they sought to gain access by sending so-called <keyword id="6359049" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="phishing">phishing</keyword> emails to targets purported to come from colleagues or trusted sources, and containing documents relevant to their interests.<o:p></o:p>

	Boland said it wasn't possible to gauge the damage done as it had taken place over such a long period, but he said the impact could be "massive".<o:p></o:p>

	"Without being able to detect it, there's no way these agencies can work out what the impacts are. They don't know what has been stolen."<o:p></o:p>

India on Chinese hackers' radar

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/48579637.cms" /> 
This is something to worry about! A US-based <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=cyber+security+">cyber security</a> firm has claimed that a Chinese group has been targeting scientific, educational and diplomatic institutions in India to steal data and information about ongoing border disputes and other diplomatic matters for the past four years. 
 
Some of these cyber attacks were detected as recently as April, just before <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Prime+Minister+Narendra+">Prime Minister Narendra </a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Prime+Minister+Narendra+">Modi</a>'s visit to China in May, reported ET. 
 
According to FireEye’s report, the group behind the operation is most likely based in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=China">China</a>. It sent <keyword id="6359049" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="phishing">phishing</keyword> emails containing <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> Word attachments to its intended victims. 
 
These documents pertained to regional issues and contained a script called WATERMAIN, which enables access to information on infected machines. 
 
The group also targeted government institutions to steal information through <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=phishing+emails">phishing emails</a>, FireEye's report has revealed. 
 
Phishing is the attempt to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=electronic+communication">electronic communication</a>. 
 
"Collecting intelligence on India remains a key strategic goal for China-based APT groups, and these attacks on India and its neighbouring countries reflect growing interest in its foreign affairs," said Bryce Boland, FireEye chief technology officer for Asia Pacific. 
 "Organizations should redouble their <keyword id="137092" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="cyber-security">cyber security</keyword> efforts and ensure they can prevent, detect and respond to attacks in order to protect themselves," he added. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

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India on Chinese hackers' radar

Reuters

Beware of WATERMAIN! Chinese hackers have been trying to steal data from India for the past 4 years

BI India Bureau