China-Based Hacker Teams Threaten US Companies

The US cyber threat from China may be the work of as few as 12 China-based hacker teams. Distinct group digital signatures have enabled US cybersecurity experts to link the teams to various cyber attacks, not just directed at the US government, but to US companies of all sizes. According to a USA Today article, the hacker teams are backed by the Chinese government, and without reciprocal agreements in place, there is little that the US can do to stop them. The cyber attacks from China began as early as 2001 and have increased in intensity over the last three years.

The Chinese government denies sanctioning hacking. Companies don't have an exact dollar loss to quantify the amount of intellectual property stolen, although Bloomberg estimates the loss at $500 million in the last year. China-based hacker teams are seemingly indiscriminate in what they take, preferring to sweep up as much data as possible from as many companies as they can hack.

Traditionally, US companies that have been hacked have been reluctant to reveal the extent of the damage they suffered, but Google was one that did speak out after realizing that their experiences could serve to enlighten other companies and possibly to help push the US government to take action. Certainly, after alarming reports, to get their arms around the scope of the problem the administration invoked national security powers from the Cold War era to compel certain large companies to discuss proprietary information that might be related to cyber attacks. According to an earlier Bloomberg account, this was done in conjunction with concerns that China might be embedding spyware into hardware exported to the US.

Small and midsized companies need to be aware that they too can be targeted by hackers from China. Bloomberg reports that China has gone after technology sectors across all industries, including those in "some of the most obscure corners of the economy." However, Bloomberg also notes that there may be some hacking correlation between China's five-year economic plan and its priority sectors, which include clean energy, advanced semiconductors, iT, aerospace, telecommunications, and biotechnology.

From the IT perspective, the best protection is a good defense. Companies of every size should implement a firewall, a reputable antivirus, and anti-malware. They should keep web browsers and business productivity software updated and patched, and possibly even block network access by country IP address if that is feasible. Transitioning to Internet Protocal version 6 (IPv6) may also be an option and is certainly worth investigating, as are newer data encryption options. Unfortunately, once that line of defense is broached, there is little that IT can do after falling victim to a China-based hacker. US intelligence experts believe that the solution lies in putting a clear US policy of retaliation against the Chinese government in the event of a cyber attack.

Source: http://www.theinfoboom.com/articles/china-based-hacker-teams-threaten-us-companies/

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