Chinese Hackers Had Unfettered Access To Nortel Networks For a Decade

An anonymous reader sends this quote from CBC News: "Hackers based in China enjoyed widespread access to Nortel's computer network for nearly a decade, according to ... Brian Shields, a former Nortel employee who launched an internal investigation of the attacks, the Wall Street Journal reports [from behind a paywall]. ... Over the years, the hackers downloaded business plans, research and development reports, employee emails and other documents. According to the internal report, Nortel 'did nothing from a security standpoint' about the attacks."

Comments

'Chinese hackers'

[Anonymous Coward]

Otherwise known as, 'Huawei employees'.

With [not-]Friends like these...

[sethstorm]

The first thing the US (and other First World nations) should be doing is getting tougher on China instead of being any bit friendly to them in commerce.

Re:Maybe there was a reason?

[Riceballsan]

Uhh yeah... sure.

"Hey Jim it looks like someones broken in, should we do something about it?"

"Nah just wait a bit, i want to see what they are doing and fine the source

10 years later "Aha!!!, I narrowed it down to someone in china.

Two points:

[rickb928]

1) I no longer care what "Wall Street Journal reports [from behind a paywall]". Quoting largely unavailable sources is wasting my time.

2) Nortel wasn't so good at security in their products. Not much of a surprise.

Oh, and 3) discounting 'cyberwar' as a solution justifying a problem is a little like dismissing a accidental wound as not in and of itself fatal. You've been injured. Claiming it's 'not that bad' doesn't change the nature of the injury. China has been attacking the rest of the world for a while now. The evidence cannot be excused.

Re:Maybe there was a reason?

[tqk]

Because unlike China and Mexico its possible to run a secure plant in the USA.

I think it would be possible to run a secure plant in China, Mexico, and even Canada. However, since the reason you're over there is to have access to dirt cheap labour, minimal overhead, and access to a billion+ potential consumers, operating a secure plant is considered an unnecessary expense.