Thursday, December 20, 2018

NASA JPL, Tech Companies Hacked By Chinese Spies, Says Justice Department

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, as well as dozens of technology companies--at least one managed service provider (MSP)--have been hacked by Chinese spies, according to an indictment by the Justice Department filed on Thursday. The indictment, filed in the United States District Court Southern District of New York, accuses a state-backed hacking group of hacking into companies from at least 2006 until 2018. The indictment said the group "acted in association with the Chinese Ministry of State Security's Tianjin State Security Bureau" to target those attacks. The indictment said the group obtained unauthorized access to the computers of more than 45 entities, including systems from the U.S. Navy, NASA JPL, and many others. The hacking group--dubbed "APT 10" by security researchers--also was accused of industrial espionage and theft of intellectual property.

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