China-Based Hacking of 760 Companies Shows Cyber Cold War

US investigators have warned that hackers based in China allegedly infiltrated more than 700 companies, universities, government agencies and more. The hackers “specialize in infiltrating networks using phishing e-mails laden with spyware, often passing on the task of exfiltrating data to others,” explains an article in Bloomberg Businessweek. Targets “range from some of the largest corporations to niche innovators in sectors like aerospace, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.” Great damage has been done, warns a former US special adviser on cybersecurity, and another analyst estimates the value of “blueprints, chemical formulas and other material” stolen from US computers in 2010 at nearly $500 billion. So far, the article concedes, the US has few good options. Sending out the alarm and naming possible culprits are initial steps in ending what some analysts label a cyber version of a Cold War. – YaleGlobal