Threat Management

US, other countries targeted by escalating Chinese hacking operation

CNN reports that the U.S. and other countries are having their private companies and government agencies attacked by a prolific Chinese hacking operation, which has been malicious activity this year. Dozen of U.S. entities have been targeted by the Chinese hacking group last year, according to Pricewaterhousecoopers Global Lead for Cyber Threat Intelligence Kris McConkey, who noted that the Chinese hackers often infiltrate networks to exfiltrate foreign or trade policy-related information, as well as engage in cryptocurrency operations. "They are, by far, the most active and globally impactful [hacking group] that we track at the minute." said McConkey, who associated some of the malicious activity to a Chengdu-based cybersecurity firm but did not publicly link operations to the Chinese government. Meanwhile, National Security Agency Cybersecurity Collaboration Center Chief Morgan Adamski noted that the COVID-19 pandemic gave Chinese state-sponsored hackers the opportunity to target U.S. defense contractors' virtual private networking software. "When you talk about nation-state actors, you kick them out, but they're going to come back, especially if you're a defense industrial base company that is producing critical military intelligence for the Department of Defense," Adamski added.

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