Data related to marketing and services to the Company`s customers is another type of operational target for informational cyber espionage. It can contain a list of customers, what services are provided and at what cost. Cyber espionage is a form of cyber attack against a competing company or government agency. The purpose of cyberespionage, which can also be called cyberespionage, is to provide the attacker with information that gives him an advantage over competing companies or governments. Information is a new oil today. Having up-to-date information in hand proves to be beneficial and gives the upper hand in the business world and also in different countries of the world. Computers that are at the heart of our work environment, from training to artillery, in which all kinds of information are stored. So, what is espionage? Let`s take a look at the definition of spying versus computers here. Cyber espionage tactics are diverse. These include: Vietnam over Vietnam, and there`s OceanLotus, a cyber espionage group that could potentially be behind the attacks called APT32 and APT-C-00. These threats targeted businesses and government organizations in Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Cambodia, and focused on foreign companies with interests in Vietnam`s manufacturing, consumer goods, and hospitality industries. Another tool mainly used in cyber espionage is social engineering, in which an author tricks the target into revealing information or performing another action.
One social engineering tactic used in several cyberespionage incidents is spear phishing, which sends emails containing infected attachments or links designed to trick the recipient into clicking on attachments or links (discussed in Module 2 on Cybercrime and Module 13 on Cybercrime). The perpetrators of an alleged state-led cyberespionage campaign called Night Dragon used a combination of social engineering tactics and malware to gain unauthorized access to the systems of global energy companies in several countries and obtain information about their operations (Kirk, 2011). Private companies could be tasked with aiding social engineering attacks. It has now been widely reported that a spyware developer has provided various state actors in several countries with the tools and capabilities to hack smartphones with custom text and WhatsApp messages (Brewster, 2018). This trade in intrusion software, which has been used in the past both to violate human rights and to combat journalists and activists, is subject to certain export control regimes, but these are criticized as both inadequate and problematic (see e.B. Lin & Trachtman, 2018). Although cyber espionage and cyber warfare are two different concepts, they are often used together. For example, cyber espionage can be used to create information that helps a nation-state prepare to declare physical war or cyberwar. More recently, cyber espionage has focused on research efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since April 2020, intrusive activities against coronavirus research have been reported against Laboratories in the US, UK, Spain, South Korea, Japan and Australia; This activity was carried out by Russian, Iranian, Chinese and North Korean actors. In 2009, there were constant attacks on Google to collect information from Gmail accounts. These attacks were dubbed “Aurora” by McAfee Labs. The reports were by human rights activists belonging to China. Google wasn`t the only target. Once Google noticed this issue, the other 20 companies were properly notified. Adobe and Yahoo were also involved in all 20 attacks. Cyber attackers targeted these companies with a vulnerability found in Internet Explorer. The necessary preventive measures have been taken.
Cyber espionage steals data from companies and governments. The process goes unnoticed in subtle ways, with the cybercriminal seizing the secret information. This unauthorized access by the user by running an unnoticed process in the background of a laptop/personal workstation or mainframe is called cyber espionage. While not all companies have to worry about being targeted by nation-state hackers, cyber espionage can still be committed by individuals in competing companies, so it`s a good idea to keep security in mind. To protect data and prevent cyber espionage, an organization may: In late 2009, there were repeated cyberattacks on certain information linked to Gmail accounts, mainly that held by Chinese human rights activists. In early 2010, the vulnerability was identified and named “Aurora”. Long-term cyber espionage can lead to cyber warfare, but not always. Cyber warfare often refers to actions taken by countries against companies or systems that are critical to the health or prosperity of another country. Cyber espionage, on the other hand, usually affects businesses or organizations, but can also include actions taken by nation-states.
The goals of companies engaged in cyber espionage include a company`s internal information, intellectual property, customer and customer information, and market and competitor information. Bad actors who engage in cyber espionage usually want to go unnoticed for a long time. This means that this type of attack is often quite complicated and expensive to carry out. A common target for cyber espionage is sensitive information privately held by an agency or organization for internal operational purposes. Some examples are operating data, research and development data, and salaries. One option available is to create multiple networks, one for intellectual property and one for enterprise use. Then, allow only users to access the network they need. Also determine which parts of each network should be accessible by each individual and create policies to grant users the necessary permissions. Cyber espionage or cyberespionage is a type of cyberattack in which an unauthorized user attempts to access sensitive or classified data or intellectual property (IP) for economic, competitive advantage or political reasons. Since cyber espionage can be both complex and hostile, it is worthwhile for an organization to consult with professionals and use comprehensive protection services. Fortinet provides advanced protection and intelligent threat intelligence, enabling an organization to deal with current cyber threats and the latest trends.
This allows them to quickly identify vulnerable entry points, understand threats before they become a reality, and know what action needs to be taken. What have the masters of cyber espionage done lately? Here are some of the nation-state attack groups that have made headlines repeatedly over the years. .