China-linked hackers have targeted Malaysian government, officials warn

A hacking group that private researchers have linked with Chinese interests has successfully targeted Malaysian government officials in an apparent data-stealing espionage campaign, cybersecurity officials in the Southeast Asian nation said this week. The Malaysian Computer Emergency Response Team, a government-backed organization, said it had “observed an increase in [the] number of artifacts and victims involving a campaign against Malaysian government officials.” The hackers have tended to target government-backed projects in an effort to steal reams of data on proposal and shipping information, the Malaysian officials said. To do that, the attackers have exploited a pair of old vulnerabilities, one dating back to 2014, in Microsoft products to compromise their targets. The advisory did not explicitly name the hacking group responsible. But the data it cited, including private-sector reports, point to a state-sponsored group known as APT40 or Leviathan. Active since at least 2013, APT40 has conducted hacking operations in […]

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