Car assembly at a factory in Qingdao, China, which is jointly owned by China’s FAW and Germany’s Volkswagen. – © getty
Between 2010 and 2015, the Volkswagen car manufacturer was hacked several times, possibly by Chinese military intelligence. This is how vital information ended up in China’s hands.
Chinese hackers managed to steal 19,000 documents from Volkswagen. The German media reported this The mirror in ZDF based on forty internal documents. Volkswagen confirmed the incident.
The truth happened between 2010 and 2015, but the consequences are still being felt today, the German media wrote. The hackers obtained information about electric cars, the market in which Chinese competitors are strongly challenging the Germans.
The attack may have started in 2010, when the Chinese probed Volkswagen’s IT structure for possible security holes. From 2011 to 2014, they received documents several times.
In 2015, Volkswagen fought back. It was no coincidence that he did so on a Friday at 10am. At that time it was already 4pm in China, and the Chinese hackers were enjoying their weekend. According to Microsoft, this is the biggest cyber attack worldwide.
During that attack, the Germans tampered with documents that were once on Chinese servers. This is how they discovered the goals of the hack. The Chinese, among other things, were looking for information on the development of petrol engines and (semi-automatic) gearboxes. They were also curious about the development of electric cars and alternative fuels.
“slanderous accusations”
Even though the study dates back ten years, it can still have an impact today. “Data on petrol engines, gearboxes and special knowledge of electric cars and hydrogen cars play a very important role in international competition,” says Helena Wisbert (Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences). ZDF.
In the documents that The mirror in ZDF China is not directly accused, but all correspondents pointed in that direction. The IP addresses used, for example, were located near Chinese military intelligence in Beijing. In addition, special Chinese hacking software was used.
The Chinese embassy in Berlin told German media that it “condemns any form of cyber espionage.” ” At the same time, she says that the accusation that the Chinese government is using hackers to carry out cyber attacks is “false”.
2024-04-19 18:50:40
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