David J. Barton
According to cybersecurity firm Mandiant, after a three-month hiatus, a team of hackers working for China’s People’s Liberation Army has started to attack targets once again, including raids on U.S. corporations, according to the NY Times.
David Sanger and Nicole Perlroth write that China’s Unit 61398 is using different techniques in their most recent attacks emanating from a 12-story tower on the edge of Shanghai.
Mandiant said that while the list of hacked companies will not be disclosed, many are repeat victims.
Unit 61398 allegedly steals information such as product blueprints, clinical trial results, negotiation strategies, proprietary information, manufacturing plans and more.
Some earlier attacks that were carried out by the cyber team include a 2009 attack on the Coca-Cola Company, a 2011 attack on TSA and a 2012 attack on Canada’s Telvent.
According to the New York Times, the hackers are working at 60 percent to 70 percent of the level they were working at before they were exposed in February and removed spying tools from the organizations they had infiltrated.
