espionage

If you roll your eyes at the term "Digital Pearl Harbor," you have my sympathy. We've been warned about the specter of an enemy attack via bits and bytes for several decades, with no real evidence that this is a realistic possibility and not mere hype.

Still, a new worm that's been spying on infected computers in the Middle East has been called a "cyberweapon," and while we're not talking outright combat, it's clear that malware is increasingly playing a part in geopolitical diplomacy and conflict.

This week brought news of not … Read more

The government's effort to prosecute corporate espionage was dealt a setback today when a federal appeals court ruled that downloaded code did not qualify as stolen under a federal theft statute.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled today that former Goldman Sachs programmer Sergey Aleynikov was wrongly charged with theft of property under the National Stolen Property Act, which makes it illegal to steal trade secrets.

Aleynikov, 42, was convicted in December 2010 of downloading code for Goldman Sachs' high-speed computerized trading operations and uploading it to an overseas server before he left … Read more

Hackers based in China have carried out 90 attacks on targets in Japan, India, and Tibetan activists in a cyber-espionage campaign started last year, according to a report.

Trend Micro today released an analysis of the Luckycat campaign, which it traced back to a command-and-control center in China. The attacks are part of an organized effort, rather than random hacks, and have compromised 233 computers, according to the report.

The New York Times today reported the attacks can be traced back to a specific individual, a former graduate student in China who may have recruited others to work on the … Read more

Patricia Dunn, the former chairman of Hewlett-Packard who resigned five years ago after acknowledging she approved a plan to spy on board members and journalists, has died, according to a published report.

William Jahnke, Dunn's husband, confirmed her death in an interview with The Wall Street Journal today and later said that Dunn died Sunday of ovarian cancer. She was 58.

HP provided a statement: "Pattie Dunn worked tirelessly for the good of HP. We are saddened by the news of her passing, and our thoughts go out to her family on their loss."

Dunn is likely … Read more

Hackers targeted about 50 organizations--including chemical and defense companies--in a global wave of cyber espionage attacks this summer, Symantec said in a report released today.

The goal apparently was to steal intellectual property such as design documents, formulas, and manufacturing processes. "The purpose of the attacks appears to be industrial espionage, collecting intellectual property for competitive advantage," according to the report. (PDF)

Meanwhile, French nuclear power group Areva was reportedly targeted in a cyber attack in September.

The wave of espionage attacks on the chemical and other firms started in late July and continued through mid-September, but command … Read more

A widespread cyber-espionage campaign stole government secrets, sensitive corporate documents, and other intellectual property for five years from more than 70 public and private organizations in 14 countries, according to a McAfee researcher who uncovered the effort.

The campaign, dubbed "Operation Shady RAT" (RAT stands for "remote access tool"), was discovered by Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research at the cyber-security firm McAfee. The targets cut across industries, including government, defense, energy, electronics, media, real estate, agriculture, and construction. The governments hit include the U.S., Canada, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, and India.

Meanwhile, a … Read more

To busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Wednesday, August 3.

• Google top lawyer calls the patient claims by Apple, Microsoft, and Oracle "bogus" and says the patent feud will increase the price of Android phones. More than 550,000 Android devices are activated daily, through a network of 39 manufacturers and 231 carriers, the lawyer pointed out, adding that the patent wars are getting in the way of innovation, instead of encouraging it.

• Also, bogus is the claim that Internet Explorer users have lower IQs. … Read more

On today's show, security researchers report that Anonymous and LulzSec are, if anything, just distracting us with their antics while the true threat is a years-long cyberwarfare campaign that's stolen everything from private intellectual property to high-level government secrets. So, that'll probably lead to some reasoned and logical cyber-security discussions, no? No. Also, is the Amazon App Store screwing developers, and are you finally getting what you pay for, broadband-wise?

A widespread cyber-espionage campaign stole government secrets, sensitive corporate documents, and other intellectual property for five years from more than 70 public and private organizations in 14 countries, according to the McAfee researcher who uncovered the effort.

The campaign, dubbed "Operation Shady RAT" (RAT stands for "remote access tool") was discovered by Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research at the cyber-security firm McAfee. Vanity Fair's Michael Joseph Gross was first to write about the findings. The targets cut across industries, including government, defense, energy, electronics, media, real estate, agriculture, and construction. The governments hit … Read more