CrowdStrike has identified a hacking group that has links to the Chinese military and targets U.S. networks in the communications and aerospace sectors, Reuters reported Monday.Joseph Menn writes the security technology firm claims that Shanghai-based 61486 branch of the People’s Liberation Army engaged in cyber espionage against Western government agencies and contractors for the past seven years.
The unit focused on exploiting “popular productivity applications such as Adobe Reader and Microsoft Office to deploy custom malware through targeted email attacks,” Crowdstrike said in its report obtained by Reuters.
In May, the Justice Department indicted five Chinese military officials accused of hacking U.S. private-sector computers to steal trade information.
Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of CrowdStrike, said the company informed U.S. intelligence organizations of its research findings prior to the report’s publication, according to Reuters.
