China deny links to hacking claims

Chinese state media have denied suggestions that they were in any way linked to the massive global cyber spying campaign that was uncovered recently by security firm McAfee.

McAfee have said that the long term hacks have been part of a “five-year targeted operation by one specific actor”. While they didn't mention China themselves, analysts and reports have been pointing the finger towards China.

The People's Daily, which is linked to the Community Party has denied the claims, saying that they ‘do not hold water'. The newspaper went on to say that “It is irresponsible to link China to Internet hackers.”

McAfee exposed the hacking procedures dubbed ‘Operation Shady RAT', by getting access to a command and control server and by then examining the log files in detail.

McAfee said that the attacks were “particularly intriguing and potentially pointed a finger at a state actor behind the intrusions, because there is likely no commercial benefit to be earned from such hacks.”

The attacks were sophisticated and emails were sent out to employees of the targeted companies. When these were opened the emails infected the machines and linked a communication channel to a command and control server.

China have been accused before of causing online attacks on government agencies and other high profile organisations and companies, although the government has always denied the claims.

Kitguru says: The investigation is still ongoing and we can be sure that more information will come to light in the coming months.

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