UK spooks spooked by possible Chinese hacking

MI5 warns of suspected corporate espionage onslaught.

The UK security service MI5 has issued an alert to 300 leading firms, warning them to ensure best possible security measures are in place to combat potential espionage attempts by Chinese hackers.

The warning, sent to company bosses and IT security heads, was leaked to the press and the story appeared on the front page of Saturday's Times newspaper. MI5 chief Jonathan Evans apparently suggests that Chinese government agencies are behind the attacks, using custom malware to penetrate networks and harvest sensitive data, including technical and financial information from corporate, political and military organisations.

Since the first reports, the Chinese government has issue strong rebuttals of the claims (more in the Times here), while further reports in the Telegraph have stated that consultancy firm KPMG has been called in to help coordinate reports of espionage and attempts to secure corporate networks.

05 December 2007

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