Major Dutch semiconductor manufacturer NXP had its network compromised by the Chinese-linked hacking operation Chimera between late 2017 and early 2020, which resulted in the theft of chip designs and other intellectual property, according to Tom's Hardware.
Such an attack, which would not have been detected if not for a similar intrusion against Dutch airline Transavia, involved the utilization of previously compromised credentials and brute-force attacks, the modification of phone numbers to evade double authentication techniques, and the usage of the ChimeRAR hacking tool, a report from NRC showed.
NXP has confirmed the compromise of intellectual property but noted that it did not notify the public regarding the incident due to the low risk that its data would be used for replicating designs.
Network security improvements have also been implemented by the semiconductor giant, which has since bolstered monitoring systems and enhanced data accessibility and transfer controls to prevent similar breaches in the future.
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