cyber security

According to Mandiant, China has infiltrated at least six US state governments

According to Mandiant, China has infiltrated at least six US state governments

Chinese government hackers breached the computer networks of at least six US state governments in the past year, according to a report published on March 9 by private cybersecurity firm Madiant.


According to Mandiant, China has infiltrated at least six US state governments
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The Mandiant report neither identifies the affected countries nor provides a motive for the storming that began last May. However, the Chinese group, APT41, which is believed to be responsible for the violations, is known to carry out hacking operations for both espionage and financial purposes.

Jeff Ackerman, president of Mandiant Threat Analyst Inc. Based in Reston, Virginia, adding in its statement: “We cannot allow other cyber activities to fall into the background, especially given our observations that the campaign of APT41, one of the most significant threat actors, continues to this day.”

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State agencies remain easy targets for hackers, even as the Biden administration has announced additional steps to secure federal systems from hacking. This is a particularly pressing problem in light of SolarWinds’ massive espionage campaign, in which Russian intelligence agents have exploited supply chain vulnerabilities to break into the networks of at least nine US agencies and dozens of private sector companies.

In this case, according to the report, the hackers exploited a previously unknown flaw in a commercial web application used by 18 states for the Department of Animal Health.

In addition, they exploited a software vulnerability known as Log4j, which was discovered in December and which US officials say could be present in hundreds of millions of devices. The report said that hackers began exploiting the vulnerability within hours of publishing a statement that exposed it to the public, and at the end of last month they again victimized two former victims of the US state government.

“Hackers’ insistence on gaining access to government networks, such as reconciling previous victims and targeting multiple agencies in the same state, [shows] that whatever they want to get is important,” said Rufus Brown, senior threat analyst at Mandiant. “We found them all over the place, and that’s worrying.”

The same hacker group, APT41, has been implicated in a 2020 Department of Justice indictment accusing Chinese hackers of targeting more than 100 companies and institutions in the United States and abroad, including social media, video game companies, universities and telecom service providers.

“Despite all that is new, some things remain the same: APT41 remains unchecked by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment in September 2020,” the Mandiant report read.

The Chinese government has historically described itself as a staunch defender of cybersecurity and dismissed US allegations of hacking as “baseless” speculation.

Yesterday, Google acquired Mandiant for $5.4 billion.

Source: Associated Press

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