Western Computer And Internet Security Under Attack From China
Security for computers and the Internet is more crucial than ever. This was brought to light in February 2013 when Mandiant, a US-based company, published a report about attacks it had discovered on computers and networks that were carried out by people in China.
Many of these attacks were linked by Mandiant to a specific Chinese building. Mandiant was able to confirm that a PLA unit was utilizing this structure, which enabled the company to draw the conclusion that the Chinese government was likely aware of and actively supporting these attacks.
Mandiant was able to verify that this unit had been successful in stealing information from at least 115 American businesses and 141 businesses globally. These businesses operated in a variety of sectors, but the majority were high-tech businesses.
The fact that these attacks are planned to be even more effective against the most sophisticated security measures used by these companies should be cause for concern. These attacks take the form of malware that is made to appear to be from Western sources, making it more challenging to stop them.
Maintaining computer and Internet security requires vigilance.
An email that contained a link to a malicious program that would have given access to Mandiant’s network was one example given in the report released by Mandiant. The email appeared to be from Mandiant’s CEO and was sent to a Mandiant employee, but it actually came from a Rocketmail account, a free webmail service, not a Mandiant email address.
Another way this Chinese unit infiltrates networks is by disseminating links to malicious executable files disguised as PDFs. The file name appears to be a PDF extension because it ends in “.pdf.exe” and is sufficiently long to hide the “.exe” portion from the link. For those who aren’t paying close enough attention, the link also features an Adobe icon, giving the impression that it is a PDF.
These are just a few examples of the issues that modern businesses must address. It is crucial to keep employees informed about these threats and to stay current on the best ways to protect your business, particularly if it operates in a tech-based sector and sells or makes use of novel technology.
Make sure your IT staff is fully qualified and able to identify and eliminate any security threats. If your business is too small to hire full-time IT staff, you should think about working with a computer tech support firm that offers computer and Internet security services, such as .
