http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/04/22/it_s_not_beijing_s_hackers_you_should_be_worried_about_it_s_moscow_s
By Shane Harris
Foreign Policy
April 22, 2014
When U.S. officials warn of the threat foreign cyber spies pose to
American companies and government agencies, they usually focus on China,
which has long been home to the world's most relentless and aggressive
hackers. But new information shows that Russian and Eastern European
hackers, who have historically focused their energies on crime and fraud,
now account for a large and growing percentage of all cyber espionage,
most of which is directed at the United States.
Individuals and groups in eastern Europe, and particularly in Russia and
Russian-speaking countries, are responsible for a fifth of all cyber
spying incidents in the world, according to a global study of data
breaches conducted by Verizon, published on Tuesday. The spies are
targeting a range of companies as varied as the global economy itself, and
are stealing manufacturing designs, proprietary technology, and
confidential business plans. The cyber spies steal information on behalf
of their governments in order to manufacture cheaper versions of
technologies or weapons systems, or to give their home country's
corporations a leg up on their foreign competitors.
The report is based on information provided by computer security companies
as well as the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland
Security. Last year, it attributed nearly all incidences of cyber
espionage -- 96 percent -- to sources in China. Russia and Eastern Europe
didn't even rank in the findings. The United States is by far the biggest
victim of cyber espionage, accounting for 54 percent of spying incidences,
the report found.
The report's authors say the increase in spying attributed to Russia and
Eastern Europe this year is partly the result of new sources of
information that reveal more than was previously known about the long
reach and sophistication of hackers in those countries. It's difficult to
know precisely how much cyber espionage by Russia had gone undetected in
the past -- Russian hackers have gone to great lengths to cover their
tracks, unlike their counterparts in China, who have generally been easier
to detect, said Alan Paller, the a cyber security expert at the SANS
Institute.
[...]
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