China-Linked Hackers Target Military, Government Texts, FireEye Says

A state-linked Chinese hacking group is using malware to steal SMS text messages from high-ranking military and government targets, according to cybersecurity company FireEye. From a report: The hacking technology, known as MESSAGETAP, "allows China to efficiently steal data from multitudes of sources from one location," Steven Stone, FireEye's director of advanced practices, said in a statement. "Espionage-related theft and intrusions have been long occurring, but what is new is the vast scale due to the use of this tool." The company's finding, released in a blog on Thursday, underscores the growing concerns about China's use of technology for espionage and the theft of intellectual property. Telecommunications pose a special concern, as the U.S. seeks to persuade its allies not to build their next-generation networks with tools from Chinese companies such as Huawei. But even in networks that China hasn't built, sophisticated hacking operations might allow access to data. In 2019 alone, FireEye observed eight attempts to target telecommunications entities by groups with suspected links to the Chinese government. Four of these hacking attempts were conducted by the group known as APT41 that is now using MESSAGETAP.

Like they're alone?

[cusco]

And the press corpse continues to pretend the US and EU countries don't do the same thing.

Re: Like they're alone?

[spinitch]

âoeLike they're alone? (+1) cusco 6 minutes ago And the press corpse continues to pretend the US and EU countries don't do the same thing.âoe China firewalls US and EU from its network, while might be able to sneak in , monitoring presumably high plus Chinese keep a close eye on their military brass. Do not recall any stories of US or EU getting caught hacking PRC military. Just low level English teachers and businesses men supposedly spying coz they took a picture someplace sensitive. If u were r

Re:

[clickclickdrone]

Do they? There was a ton of coverage when Ed Snowden blew it wide open and I've not seen anything since that claims otherwise. I think we all know everyone's at it.

Wrong headline

[Pyramid]

The story should be that the U.S. military uses SMS at all, let alone for sensitive information. What an immensely stupid move.

Re:

[Some Guy I Dont Know]

Can you believe it?! People that are in the US military and government also have private phones! /s

Weasel words wholesale

[Archtech]

"A state-linked Chinese hacking group is using malware to steal SMS text messages from high-ranking military and government targets, according to cybersecurity company FireEye Inc".

Notice the usual sly trick of leading off with the unfounded allegations, and shoving the details of the source right to the end of the sentence. So far, then, all we know is that FireEye has made certain statements; we have seen absolutely no hard evidence for any of them.

"The company’s finding, released in a blog on Thurs

Re:

[Archtech]

"In 2019 alone, FireEye observed eight attempts to target telecommunications entities by groups with suspected links to the Chinese government".

Eight "attempts"? My, my - that's almost one attempt per month. We'd better take emergency measures before the Internet is totally swamped. (And we are not told if even a single one of those "attempts" was successful).

Re:

[guruevi]

I see at least 8 attempts per day, FireEye's firewall rules or logging are really bad.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Thank you, Captain Obvious!

[BAReFO0t]

What else do you expect them to do?
Like with any spying and propaganda agency, it *is* kinda their job! :)

I wonder if China has the same propaganda about the CIA. Probably.

Cybersecurity company FireEye says

[notdecnet]

Is this the same FireEye [cnmeonline.com] that provided cybersecurity for Equifax [theregister.co.uk].