Today ARS put up an interesting find from a report from the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive which said that other countries were using cyber espionage to attempt and infiltrate into US companies to access their trade and business secrets. The report says that the biggest attackers are China and Russia however the list also includes certain US allies that have tried to gain access into US firm’s secret lockers to steal trade secrets. The report says that the attacks have gone up exponentially since 2002.
The report says that as these companies head towards Asia and other markets to reduce costs, their systems were now exposed to the citizens of these countries who were at risk of conducting espionage. Internet connected devices such as smartphones and the use of cloud computing were making it easier for hackers to gain instant access. The report said that every company has to ensure that every device, from a simple smart phone to an iPad to a server is secure and up-to-date with patches to avoid any break-ins.
The report mentioned the Chinese government as a persistent collector who does not hesitate to sponsor hack attacks on other governments. Recently about 48 hacks were pointed to one single individual in China. You can read more about that story here.
[ARS]