August 10, 2022
1 min read

Chinese hackers target govt agencies globally

The researchers tagged TA428, a Chinese-speaking APT group, behind the series of attacks using six backdoor malware…reports Asian Lite News

China-based hackers attacked military industrial plants, research institutes, government agencies and ministries in several countries and were able to even hijack the IT infrastructure of some, taking control of systems used to manage security solutions, a new report has revealed.

Researchers at cyber-security firm Kaspersky detected a wave of targeted attacks on military industrial complex enterprises and public institutions in several Eastern European countries and Afghanistan.

“In the course of our research, we were able to identify over a dozen of attacked organisations,” the researchers said.

The analysis suggests that “it is highly probable that a Chinese-speaking group is behind the attacks”.

The researchers tagged TA428, a Chinese-speaking APT group, behind the series of attacks using six backdoor malware.

The attackers penetrated the enterprise network using carefully crafted phishing emails.

“In the course of our investigation, we discovered that, in some cases, the attackers create phishing emails using information that is not publicly available, such as the full names of employees responsible for handling sensitive information, as well as internal codenames of projects developed by attacked organisations,” the team noted.

Phishing emails contain Microsoft Word documents with embedded malicious code that exploits the CVE-2017-11882 vulnerability, which enables an attacker to execute arbitrary code without any additional user activity.

In the new series of attacks, the attackers used six different backdoors at the same time — probably to set up redundant communication channels with infected systems in case one of the malicious programmes was detected and removed by a security solution.

“The backdoors used provide extensive functionality for controlling infected systems and collecting confidential data,” said Kaspersky.

The attack targeted industrial plants, design bureaus and research institutes, government agencies, ministries and departments in several East European countries (Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine), as well as Afghanistan, it added.

ALSO READ: China preparing for invasion, says Taiwan

Previous Story

OPPO, OnePlus stop smartphone sales in Germany

Next Story

IOM :Egypt hosts 9 mn int’l migrants from 130 countries

Latest from -Top News

No deal but ‘progress made’, says Trump

President Putin praised Trump’s efforts to facilitate dialogue and reaffirming that Ukraine’s security must be guaranteed. US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a landmark summit in Anchorage, Alaska,

UAE celebrates India@79

Indian expats in Abu Dhabi and Dubai marked India’s 79th Independence Day with flag-hoisting, cultural performances, and heartfelt tributes, celebrating decades of deep UAE–India friendship….reports Asian Lite News The colours of saffron,

India and America are a strange couple

No Indian leader has ever been so fond of an American President as Modi has been of Trump, writes Mihir Bose India and America have always had a curious love affair. They

Rubio extends greetings on India’s I-Day

Secretary of State describes the relationship between India and the US as “consequential and far-reaching,” built on shared democratic values, mutual respect, and expanding cooperation across multiple sectors…reports Asian Lite News Secretary

Journey towards Viksit Bharat

As India embarked on its fast-paced human centric developmental journey to become a developed country “Viksit Bharat @2047” by the time it completes the century of the independence, the past decade has
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Lanka PM asks China to restructure debts

Facing crisis with no dollars to import food, fuel, medicine

China’s pugnacious rhetoric at Shangri-La Dialogue

Instead of dialoguing with the US, the Chinese government presented