Ride the Lightning
Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
Chinese Attack New York Times and Wall Street Journal
February 14, 2013
That is certainly the allegation. CNN reported that Chinese attacks on the West are widespread according to the experts. According to one recent report, one in every three observed computer attacks in the third quarter of 2012 emanated from China.
China has continued to deny that it supports these cyberattacks and notes that hacking is illegal in China. That makes me feel ever so much better.
The New York Times has been the target of four months of cyber assaults, the first attacks coming during an investigation by the newspaper into the wealth reportedly accumulated by relatives of the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao. The Wall Street Journal has also reported that its computer
systems have been infiltrated by Chinese hackers.
Cyber security experts say the alleged attack on The New York Times appeared to be similar to previously reported attacks that were linked to China.
The attacks were spear-phishing attacks in which e-mails appear to be from a known source but downloaded malware when an attachment was opened or a link was clicked on. In the case of the New York Times, the attackers were able to collect the passwords of all NYT employees and were able to gain access to the computers of 53 employees.
An interesting aspect of the article is that it stresses that many hacking victims do not reveal that they've been breached for fear of losing customer (or client) trust. Information security consultant Mandiant says that 90% of the folks who hire Mandiant to investigate a breach do not report the breach.
As I've said many times, the 46 state data breach notification laws are largely ignored – if they are ever to work, they must have teeth.
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