Massive Global Cyberattack Targeting U.S., U.N. Discovered; Experts Blame China

Fox News ^ | August 03, 2011 | N/A

[Freeport]

The world's most extensive case of cyber-espionage, including attacks on U.S. government and U.N. computers, is set to be revealed Wednesday by online security firm McAfee, and analysts are speculating that China is behind the attacks.

The spying was dubbed "Operation Shady RAT," or "remote access tool" by McAfee -- and it led to a massive loss of information that poses a huge economic threat, wrote vice president of threat research Dmitri Alperovitch

"What is happening to all this data — by now reaching petabytes as a whole — is still largely an open question," Alperovitch wrote on a blog detailing the threat. "However, if even a fraction of it is used to build better competing products or beat a competitor at a key negotiation (due to having stolen the other team’s playbook), the loss represents a massive economic threat."

[Freeport]

I say, if true, a 2000 lb'der through the server room is appropriate...

[unixfox]

...and it led to a massive loss of information that poses a huge economic threat...

Couldn't be any worse of a threat than what we have in the White House.

[Meet the New Boss]

A big question is if it becomes clear at some point that Barky is going to lose re-election, do they go ahead and attack Taiwan before he leaves office.

[Roccus]

Zer0's next crisis?

[brownsfan]

Wait, what?

The free traders told me that moving our manufacturing to China was good for us. China is our friend, right?

[Free Vulcan]

“The spying was dubbed “Operation Shady RAT...”

Wait a sec, are we talking about the Chinese, the White House, Harry Reid, or what?

[bert]

-——do they go ahead and attack Taiwan before he leaves office.——

That battle is moot. The economic cooperation, that is the money making business ties of companies from Taiwan and the mainland negates the need for hostile political takeover. IMV

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

I don’t know what is more frightening that it happened or the UN discovered it.

[RJS1950]

Petabytes!!! That is like completely stealing one of the world’s largest databases yet the management clowns are still considering moving major critical operations to the cloud. This is not a few hackers working in the basement; it is a very large powerful country with vast assets and the active/passive help and support of our Fuehrer and the democrat party.

[Meet the New Boss]

They’ve been undergoing a huge military build-up the main focus of which appears to be prepping for an attack on Taiwan. The massive array of rocket launchers in particular would be a waste of resources if they’ve dropped the idea of a military attack.

[Biggirl]

Looks like as time goes on, and it is coming out more that China has a corrupt banking system, it is shown that its economy is really built on a “house of cards”.

[Lazamataz]

What China does to us, is very likely being done right back to them, in triplicate.

We are some of the very best in the world.

[FourPeas]

Anyone, anyone, who's been paying attention to information security knows that it was just a matter of time before the pathetic state of what a typical US company considers computer security was breached in a devastating way. That a breach would lead to sensative economic, defense, or medical related information was a given.

So, what does the US learn from this? I'd guess the answer is not a d@mn thing. Some will give lip service to the idea of security, but most US corporations will take the polyanna approach and be quite comfortable assuming it can't happen to them. (Cynical? Nah.)

What is fascinating is the sphere of sites they targeted [emphasis mine]:

The governments of Canada, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam were also hit, as were the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the International Olympic Committee, and the World Anti-Doping Agency, Reuters reported.

The hackers sought out sensitive data on U.S. military systems and satellite communications, with the snooping apparently going on for several years.

Companies in construction, steel, energy, solar power, technology, accounting and media were targeted.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

A big question is if it becomes clear at some point that Barky is going to lose re-election, do they go ahead and attack Taiwan before he leaves office.

Good question. But in our current weakened state they could probably do it in the first couple of years of his successor's term and not have to worry about serious retaliation. Taiwan (and others) will pay the price of relying on the fickle United States for protection.

[factoryrat]

No, not china, they wouldn’t do anything like that. I thought they were our friends. They wouldn’t steal any intellectual property from us, would they?

(Dripping with sarsasm. Don’t get into bed with the devil if you don’t want to get screwed).

[COBOL2Java]

The spying was dubbed "Operation Shady RAT"

[cranked]

Oh snap, my eyes hurt.... =.=

[wolfman]

The globalists are staging something here. Looking to blame China for the upcoming economic meltdown perhaps and a pretense for the inevitable war that comes after.

[factoryrat]

Want the keys to the kingdom? Go to the US patent office website. I found out so much about how the competition does things, it isn’t even funny. BTW our patent, copyright, and trademark laws are pretty much useless outside of the US. Don’t believe me? Try to contest it in a chinese court.

(My best advise: keep tour trade secrets SECRET).

[Genoa]

Cyber-attacks really are an act of war that could be more destructive to our economy, infrastructure, and defense capability than conventional warfare would be. But responding to them in proportion to their potential for harm is politically undoable.