A US company has accused a Chinese military intelligence unit in
Shanghai of conducting a huge cyber espionage campaign against western
companies, in the most specific allegations that the People’s Liberation
Army sponsors hacking.
Mandiant, a Washington-based cyber security group, said APT1 – a
group of hackers it observed attacking at least 141 companies in the US
and 15 other countries over the past seven years – was in fact a PLA
group called Unit 61398.
In a report, Mandiant said the Chinese military unit was
“similar to APT1 in its mission, capabilities, and resources”. It added
that the group was located in the same area where APT1 activity appears
to originate.
The accusation follows a string of recent announcements by US
media groups that they had been hacked from China. The most recent spate
of incidents is part of a rise in reports of cyber attacks over the
past few years.
In recent years, cyber warfare experts have repeatedly
identified Chinese hackers as the most likely perpetrators of such
attacks. They have cited evidence such as IP addresses in China and the