Computer piracy | China attacks on American defense establishments

France Media Agency

According to a report published by Mandiant, at least two hacker groups, one of which is believed to be close to the Chinese government, have been linked to malware that exploits vulnerabilities in VPNs – systems that allow you to establish a secure connection – with PulseSecure, a similar group in the western United States.

The report said that hackers used the malware to steal the identities of VPN users and hack into the computer systems of lawyer groups between October 2020 and March 2021.

Governments and financial institutions in Europe and the United States have also been targeted, according to an American consultant, UNC2630, one of the groups.

“We suspect that UNC 2630 works on behalf of the Chinese government and has links to the APT5,” said a Mandian report, a hacker group linked to Beijing authorities.

The consultant stated that the “trusted third party” had linked the new piracy to APT5.

“APT5 regularly targets high value group networks,” he said. “Their preferred targets are aerospace and defense companies based in the United States, Europe and Asia.”

The report did not specify how many companies were affected.

Pulse Secure has confirmed many of Mandate’s reports that it has already provided solutions to prevent malware to its users.

The VPN manufacturer guarantees that the hack will affect “a limited number of users”.