Chinese hackers targeting US firms’ financial data, report says
Cyberattacks looking to get information on bid prices, contracts and mergers and acquisitions, US-based security company claims
China is boosting efforts to steal more financial information from US companies, seeking to give domestic enterprises an edge in international deals, computer security firm FireEye said.
State-controlled Chinese hackers have increased attacks against American companies to obtain information related to bid prices, contracts and mergers and acquisitions, FireEye said in a report on Wednesday.
The allegations of financial espionage comes just as trade tensions between the US and China could lead to a full-blown trade war. While the Asian country has denied supporting hacking activities, US security investigators have pointed to evolving threats that originate from the world’s second largest economy. The hacking of trade secrets is happening even as China has made efforts to honour an agreement to rein in the theft of intellectual property.
“Rather than stealing intellectual property and potentially devaluing it, buying the company at a good price may be another way to get access to the intellectual property and maintain the economic value,” said Bryce Boland, chief technology officer for Asia-Pacific at FireEye.
FireEye did not identify victims or provide the number of attacks. Officials at China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment. Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a briefing last month that China opposed all kinds of cyberattacks. “We will continue to implement the important consensus on cybersecurity reached in 2015,” he said.
