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Security Companies Team Up, Take Down Chinese Hacking Group
daten writes A coalition of security companies has hit a sophisticated hacking group in China with a heavy blow. The effort is detailed in a report released today by Novetta. The coalition, which calls itself Operation SMN, detected and cleaned up malicious code on 43,000 computers worldwide that were targeted by Axiom, an incredibly sophisticated organization that has been stealing intellectual property for more than six years. The group united as part of Microsoft's Coordinated Malware Eradication (CME) campaign against Hikit (a.k.a. Hikiti), the custom malware often used by Axiom to burrow into organizations, exfiltrate data, and evade detection, sometimes for years.
removing malware isn't "taking down" a hacking group; that's just what a victim does
Any hacker group that relies on the same malware code on their hacking, for 6 year straight, deserves no respect
If that Chinese hacker group "Axiom" really uses the same "Hikit" code all these years then they are no better than a bunch of lazy script kiddies
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
These white hat haxx0rz taking down presumably black hat haxx0ring gr0upz... it's all fun and games except that it's vigilantism.
Youse guis read too many redneck comic boox, I tells ya.
If that code is such an effective root kit that they have no need to change it other than deploying it with various 0 days and "droppers", it sounds like they are making a rational business decision.
Exactly. If the same old tricks still reliably work, why change?
Are the people responsible identified?
Are they dead or incarcerated?
No and no. Nothing is taken down. You might have patched some bullet holes and developed better armor, but the shooter is still at large and still dangerous.
So, more money for malware writers and for Microsoft, and more jobs for IT "security" people... congrats!
I wonder, why don't these companies simply remove any software from Microsoft, invest in open source software and standards, and stop being idiots? Oh, right, I already replied to my own question. Simply follow the money...
... If someone spray paints my mailbox with graffiti and I clean it off, is that vigilantism?
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Why don't they come out and call a spade a spade...the Chinese government aids, at worst, or allows, at best, this activity. Ask anyone who has spent any time living in China. It's pretty difficult to do anything that they don't like and if when you do manage to circumvent the rules, it's only because you're greasing the palms of someone inside the government. "Hacking group".....riiiiiiiiiight. (rolling eyes)
They didn't kill the power plants in China, did they?
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
That's the only thing this take down provides because the real problem is still out out there and until they arrest their asses the danger still exist False security is very bad, people become laxed, and that's a no no when it comes to security. It's like the mood after a huge drug bust where 5-0 thinks traffic has slowed down because of their heroics, but really it's business as usual.
This is like the Soviet S&T spy group, the most prolific and successful groups of spies during the cold war; they were constantly stealing plans and technology from America through an extensive spy network and managing to stay a year behind the west in most technologies. China is probably using this to supplement their S&T industrial espionage group. The direct dollar value to the Soviet spy group was 1/100th of the estimated labor cost of actually developing the technology, according to the Mitrokhin archive. Thus if the Chinese hacker group steals $10 billion in technology, that would equate to a $100 million direct value to that hacker group / the Chinese state. Companies having more cellular / detached network setups which do not directly talk to each other would probably help.
Someone's gonna wake up tomorrow with a computer monitor in their bed :-P
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
So Microsoft is the Batman?
"...targeted by Axiom, an incredibly sophisticated organization that has been stealing intellectual property for more than six years."
So, who came up with this and who is target?
"The coalition, which calls itself Operation SMN, detected and cleaned up malicious code on 43,000 computers worldwide
What operating System did these 'computers' run on?
Now, if they also eradicated some of the NSA malware in the process... I mean... uh as collateral damage, so to speak...
Sigh. I'll keep on dreaming.
Its interesting that Microsoft is mentioned as key contributor to this, when most likely the affected systems that are allowing hackers to slip into organization unauthorized is likely due to the horrendous poor security of Microsoft's own operating system.
It is disgraceful that a consortium of PRIVATE companies has to tackle this issue when there is clear violation of any number of laws at stake.
Get to work, you government agencies, and, instead of spying on your fellow countrymen, do your job.
*** Don't be dull.***
I like mustard!