China's cyberespionage group 'APT10' inches towards Southeast Asia

By IANS | Published: September 18, 2019 11:34 PM2019-09-18T23:34:06+5:302019-09-18T23:45:03+5:30

Expanding spying attempts against organisations in Vietnam and Malaysia, Chinese-speaking cyberespionage group APT10 is now inching towards Southeast Asia, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky said on Wednesday.

China's cyberespionage group 'APT10' inches towards Southeast Asia | China's cyberespionage group 'APT10' inches towards Southeast Asia

China's cyberespionage group 'APT10' inches towards Southeast Asia

APT10 also known as MenuPass, StonePanda, ChessMaster, Cloud Hopper and Red Apollo is known for several high-profile attacks against different industries, including information and technology, government and defence, telecommunications, academic, medical, healthcare and pharmaceutical since 2009.

"We have been monitoring several operations of APT10, particularly in Japan where they caused information leakage and serious reputational damage. They are known for their stealthy and large-scale cyberespionage campaigns, always hungry for confidential information and even trade secrets.

"Now they are extending their geography of attack towards Southeast Asia, potentially setting eyes on some medical organisations and associations in Malaysia and Vietnam," Suguru Ishimaru, Security Researcher at Kaspersky, said in a statement.

Kaspersky has monitored new wave of attacks that potentially target health and medical facilities in Malaysia between October to December 2018 and Vietnam between February to May 2019.

The malware used in the two countries is different from the known tricks APT10 is known for, but the goal remains the same to steal credentials and confidential information from the infected machines.

The group is widely known in the cybersecurity industry as a Chinese-speaking cyberespionage group.

While their target sectors have been changing since their first known attack, their goal to steal important information including confidential data, defence intelligence, and corporate secrets remains unchanged.

( With inputs from IANS )

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