Dmitri Alperovitch, a
McAfee cyber security expert, just discovered one of the largest cyber attacks of all-time, according to a Vanity Fair report.Over the last five years, a widespread hacking operation has been stealing information from more than 70 private corporations, including possibly the Associated Press; government agencies in the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, and elsewhere; and international organizations like the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee.The stolen materials include "government secrets, e-mail archives, legal contracts, negotiation plans for business activities, and design schematics," Vanity Fair's Michael Joseph Gross reports.According to Gross, The operation, which Alperovitch has dubbed Operation Shady RAT, was discovered two years ago when a defense contractor, running McAfee software,"identified suspicious programs running on its network. Forensic investigation revealed that the defense contractor had been hit by a species of malware that had never been seen before: a spear-phishing e-mail containing a link to a Web page that, when clicked, automatically loaded a malicious program—a remote-access tool, or rat—onto the victim’s computer. The rat opened the door for a live intruder to get on the network, escalate user privileges, and begin exfiltrating data."Only recently, however, was Alperovitch able to discover the extent of the hacking operation and the identities of its victims.It remains unclear who is behind Operation Shady RAT, but some believe the circumstantial evidence points clearly in one direction.“All the signs point to China,” James A. Lewis, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., told Gross. “Who else spies on Taiwan?Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:More Than Half Of Mexico's Top Prosecutors Have Resigned En Masse The Scariest Video Yet From The Arab SpringU.S. Accuses Iran Of Harboring Network That Funds Al Qaeda
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