(Bloomberg) — Suspected Chinese hackers have reportedly breached the US Navy as part of a wider campaign that cyber security experts believe is aimed at disrupting communications in the Pacific ahead of a potential crisis. was intended.
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US Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro told CNBC on Thursday that the Navy was affected by a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group, dubbed Volt Typhoon, accused of breaching government, communications, manufacturing and IT organizations Has gone. Microsoft Corp., which named the group and warned of the breaches on Wednesday, said the hackers had gained access to targets in the US and Guam, home to a major US military installation in the Pacific.
Microsoft said it was “moderately confident” the breaches were made in preparation for maintaining communications in the event of a future crisis. The company’s disclosure comes amid concerns that China could take military action to enforce its claim on the self-ruled island of Taiwan.
The US Navy did not respond to a request for comment.
The National Security Agency shared more details about the hackers with intelligence agencies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Those counties are part of a major intelligence alliance, which involves sharing cyber security information, known as Five Eyes.
China denied the hacking allegations on Thursday.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said, “We note this extremely unprofessional report – a patchwork with a broken chain of evidence.” “Clearly, this is a massive disinformation campaign launched by the US through Five Eyes to fulfill its geopolitical agenda. It is widely known that Five Eyes is the world’s largest intelligence association, and the NSA is the world’s largest hacking group.
It’s not clear why Microsoft, the US and its allies decided to put the spotlight on the hacking group this week. John Hultquist, principal analyst at Google subsidiary Mandiant Intelligence, said there may be a reason private companies are beginning to defend against this group of Chinese hackers long before a potential conflict with China over Taiwan.
“The burden of protecting critical infrastructure from severe disruptive cyberattacks lies with the private sector. They have to defend these networks,” Hultquist said. “That’s why it’s so important that this intelligence makes its way into their hands. If it doesn’t, it’s practically useless.”
Details about the alleged attacks provide rare insight into possible sabotage efforts by Chinese hackers, whose alleged theft of intellectual property and espionage capabilities is better known. In contrast, cyber security experts have documented Russian attacks on critical infrastructure, including hacks of power grids in Ukraine.
“The organization has been around a long time,” Dakota Carey, a consultant with the Krebs Stamos Group, described the hacking group. “That’s when they walked a line to get something of military operational value, that’s when it changed.”
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Source: finance.yahoo.com
