Chinese hackers target govt, businesses in India
The group remained undetected for so long as it was able to re-use methods and malware dating back to 2005.
Hackers, most likely from China, have been spying on governments and businesses in Southeast Asia and India uninterrupted for a decade, researchers at internet security company FireEye Inc said.
In a report released on Monday, FireEye said the cyber espionage operations dated back to at least 2005 and "focused on targets - government and commercial - who hold key political, economic and military information about the region."
Bryce Boland, Chief Technology Officer for Asia Pacific at FireEye and co-author of the report, said the attack was still ongoing, noting that the servers the attackers used were still operational, and that FireEye continued to see attacks against its customers, who number among the targets.
China has always denied accusations that it uses the Internet to spy on governments, organisations and companies. Neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Internet regulator, immediately responded to written requests for comment on the FireEye report on Monday.
Undetected
He Mr. Boland said the group appeared to include at least two software developers. The report did not offer other indications of the possible size of the group or where it's based.
The group remained undetected for so long as it was able to re-use methods and malware dating back to 2005, and developed its own system to manage and prioritise attacks, even organising shifts to cope with the workload and different languages of its targets, Mr. Boland told Reuters.
The attackers focused not only on governments, but on ASEAN itself, as well as corporations and journalists interested in China. Other targets included Indian or Southeast Asian-based companies in sectors such as construction, energy, transport, telecommunications and aviation, FireEye said.
Mostly they sought to gain access by sending so-called phishing emails to targets purported to come from colleagues or trusted sources, and containing documents relevant to their interests.
Mr. Boland said it wasn't possible to gauge the damage done as it had taken place over such a long period, but he said the impact could be "massive".
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