China: Revealing leaked documents – ‘They hire hackers for cyber attacks in other countries’ – 2024-02-24 08:10:51

The extent of Beijing’s cyberattack efforts in foreign countries has been revealed after a series of documents from a Chinese cyber security company were leaked. The files were leaked anonymously through I-Soon, a private security firm linked to China’s top spy agency.

The data included records of apparent correspondence between employees, as well as lists of targets and materials that indicated cyber-attack tools. As it turns out, Beijing’s intelligence agencies and military groups are conducting large-scale, systematic cyberattacks against foreign governments, companies and infrastructure — exploiting vulnerabilities in the software systems of giants like Microsoft, Apple and Google, according to the New York Times.

The revelations provide an unprecedented insight into the world of state-backed “China hackers for hire”. They show how Chinese law enforcement and its top spy agency, the Ministry of State Security, have gone beyond their own manpower to tap private-sector … talent in a global hacking campaign that U.S. officials say that it also targeted US infrastructure and government.

Three cyber experts who spoke to The New York Times said the documents appear to be authentic. I-Soon appears to have partnered – and later embroiled in a trade dispute – with another Chinese company, Chengdu 404, whose hackers have been charged by the US Justice Department with cyberattacks on US companies and have also targeted activists for of democracy in Hong Kong.

“We have every reason to believe this is authentic data from a contractor supporting global and domestic cyber espionage operations outside of China,” said John Hultquist, principal analyst at Google’s Mandiant Intelligence.

The analyst added that the data showed that I-Soon worked for various Chinese government agencies that support hacking, including the Ministry of State Security, the People’s Liberation Army and China’s national police.

“Hackers for Hire”

The files showed how I-Soon could leverage a range of technologies to act as a hacking bureau for the Chinese government. At times, the company’s employees focused on targets overseas, and on other occasions they helped China’s Ministry of Public Security track Chinese citizens inside and outside the country. I-Soon also had access to government and corporate data in Asia, specifically Taiwan, India, Nepal, Vietnam and Myanmar.

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