What is Cyber Espionage?.
Cyber
espionage is a type of cyber attack that is executed to steal sensitive,
classified information or intellectual property to get an advantage over a
government entity or competitive company. These attacks are often subtle and
amount to nothing more than an unnoticed process running on the background or a
workstation or mainframe. The attacks are majorly motivated by profit or greed
and can be used in conjunction with a military operation to assume a form of
terrorism.
In
the past, corporations sought to get a competitive advantage by sending a faux
employee to gain access to projects or data of an opponent company. However,
with advancement in technology, corporations got easier ways to spy on their
competitors. Since business competition is on the rise, every business should
consider protecting itself against cyber espionage. Although faux employees are still used to
gather information from a competing company, a vulnerable workstation is more
attractive. When the mainframe is attacked, it can be used to spy and obtain
information for the attacker.
Let’s
look at some of the biggest cyber espionage cases that affected organizations
and governments.
Breach on the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) Data
In
2012, it was alleged that Chinese hackers attacked the US OPM and stole
personal information of 21 million Americans.
Due to this cyber espionage, the attackers gained access to critical
data of people who worked for the federal government including the military.
Although the attack was executed in 2012, the data leakage was detected in June
2015 when the department discovered a malware that had built a backdoor into
the network. In 2017, a Chinese national suspected to have developed the
malware was arrested. Although OPM assured the citizens that no one suffered as
a result of the attack, there are long term implications of such an attack.
Spying on McCain and
Obama computers
Obama
and McCain were victims of cyber espionage during the 2008 presidential
campaigns. Russian or Chinese hackers installed spyware on the two presidential
candidates’ computers and took vital information regarding national policy.
Initially, the cyber attacker was thought to be a computer virus, but
specialists discovered a leakage on a significant amount of files. Though the
malware was installed before or during the campaigns, it was detected after the
presidential election.
Titan rain
From
2003 to 2005, the government of US was experiencing frequent threats organised
by Chinese military hackers. It also included attacks on UK foreign and defence
ministries. This attacked continued up to 2007. Titan rain was the first case
of cyber espionage supported by a State.
The Chinese attackers gained access to network computers via different
methods and took as much information as they could. Although the involvement of
the Chinese government in the attack was not proven, governments became more
cautious about cyber espionage attacks.
GhostNet
In
2009, Canadian researchers discovered an extensive spy network named GhostNet
that planned intrusion into more than 1000 computers in 103 countries. The
attackers gained unauthorised access to Dalai Lama offices network and used it
to compromise other computers. The hackers also launched attacks on foreign
ministries and embassies of Pakistan, India, Germany, Thailand, South Korea and
Iran.
Operation Shady RAT
This
is one of the biggest cyber espionage undertakings in history. It affected more
than 70 companies since 2006. Some of the victims of the attack include the
International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the United
Nations. McAfee detected an unknown malware which was propagated through email
with a link to a self-reloading RAT. Chinese hackers had allegedly executed the
operation because they were the only Southeast Asia country that was not
affected.
From
the above examples, it is clear cyber espionage can target any organization,
government or individual. It is essential to protect yourself against such
attacks to prevent data loss to malicious people. The following are the various
ways you can protect yourself against cyber espionage.
Update software.
Malware
often infiltrates your computer through software vulnerabilities. Software
developers release updates that seal the loopholes in their applications. One of
the effective ways to minimize the chances of cyber espionage is to have
updated software on your computer.
Anti-malware
Anti-malware
programs can be great assets in mitigating the threat of cyber espionage. The
use of external storage devices commonly replicates malware. If a device is
affected by malware, it will be detected and deleted as soon as you inject it
in your computer.
Look for unexpected
behaviour
Although
this is a difficult way to detect malware, you should monitor your computer for
abnormal behaviour. Some of the factors to consider are speed, webpage
redirects and your device’s web camera.