HONG KONG ¨C Chinese hackers have targeted Japanese defense companies, possibly to get information about Tokyo¡¯s policy toward resolving the North Korean nuclear impasse, according to cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc.
The attacks are suspected by the firm to have been carried out by a group known as APT10, a China-based espionage group that FireEye has been tracking since 2009. Apparently, one of the lures used in a ¡°spear-phishing¡± email attack was a defense lecture given by former head of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura. Two attacks are said to have taken place between September and October last year.
¡°Lure content related to the defense industry suggests that a possible motive behind the intrusion attempt is gaining insider information on policy prescription to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue,¡± said Bryce Boland, chief technology officer for the Asia-Pacific region at FireEye.
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