Source URL: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/09/18/2014240/chinese-spies-spent-months-inside-aerospace-engineering-firms-network-via-legacy-it?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
Source: Slashdot
Title: Chinese Spies Spent Months Inside Aerospace Engineering Firm’s Network Via Legacy IT
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**Summary:** This report discusses a major cybersecurity breach involving Chinese state-sponsored spies who infiltrated a U.S. aerospace manufacturer’s network using default credentials on unmanaged IBM AIX servers. The incident highlights vulnerabilities in legacy systems and shadow IT, underscoring the risks related to supply chain security and espionage, especially in critical sectors.
**Detailed Description:** The article outlines a significant cybersecurity case where spies from the People’s Republic of China gained unauthorized access to a global engineering firm’s IT infrastructure. Their modus operandi involved exploiting default credentials on unmanaged AIX servers, showcasing how legacy and poorly monitored systems can be entry points for sophisticated cyber threats.
Key points include:
– **Initial Breach**: The breach began in March, where spies compromised one of the manufacturer’s three unmanaged AIX servers and maintained access for four months.
– **Targeted Company**: While the company remains unnamed, it produces components critical to both public and private aerospace sectors, as well as industries like oil and gas.
– **Espionage Motivation**: The primary objective of the breach appears to be theft of intellectual property and sensitive blueprints, highlighting the ongoing threat from nation-state actors like China.
– **Government Alerts**: U.S. federal agencies have repeatedly warned about increased cyber espionage activities linked to Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) groups, including APT40 and Volt Typhoon.
– **Mitigation Efforts**: Upon identifying the intrusion in August, the company notified law enforcement and collaborated with government cybersecurity agencies to investigate and mitigate the breach.
– **Exploitation of Supply Chain Vulnerabilities**: The incident underscores a disturbing trend where adversarial nations exploit vulnerabilities earlier in the supply chain, putting more organizations at risk and increasing the likelihood of failure in critical components used in various applications, including military and civilian sectors.
– **Assumed Risk**: Dwyer emphasized the inherent risks in the supply chain, suggesting that the end users of products may bear the consequences of vulnerabilities in upstream components.
– **Increasing Complexities for Cybersecurity**: The discussion points towards a troubling evolution of cyber threats where attackers are getting more adept at intervening earlier in the supply chain, questioning the robustness of existing security measures across interconnected systems.
Overall, this case illustrates the critical need for organizations to address security for legacy systems, assess their supply chain for vulnerabilities, and adopt more stringent security protocols to protect against state-sponsored espionage and potential sabotage.