Cyber Espionage Impacting Defense and Economy

The Department of Defense reported that Chinese hackers gained access to our government’s designs for advanced weapons systems. According to the Washington Post, “U.S. officials say that senior Pentagon officials are frustrated by the scale of cybertheft from defense contractors, who routinely handle sensitive classified data.” 

On February 18, 2013, Mandiant released a report exposing one of China’s cyber espionage units. The group, which Mandiant calls APT1, is one of the most prolific we track in terms of the sheer quantity of information it has stolen. The scale and impact of APT1′s operations compelled Mandiant to write the report and release more than 3,000 indicators to help organizations defend against APT1’s tactics. The report linked APT1 to a unit within China’s People’s Liberation Army and received widespread attention from the media and from the U.S. government.