Washington Denies Hacker Attack Compromised Nuclear Information

The White House has denied reports that any critical information was stolen as a result of a recent spear phishing attack.

A senior official told US press yesterday there was no evidence any data was taken, claiming that it was an isolated incident. The comments came in response to reports that Chinese hackers had penetrated US systems to access nuclear secrets.

“There was never any impact or attempted breach of any classified system,” the spokesperson said, according to a Reuters report. “The attack was identified, the system was isolated.”

Spear phishing for fun

Spear phishing attacks see targets sent emails claiming to come from legitimate sources, either attempting to get the recipient to hand over sensitive information, or to click on a link or attachment that would lead to malware being downloaded onto their systems. There have been some notable victims of spear phishing, including security firm RSA, which was hit early last year.

A blog, called the Washington Free Beacon, reported over the weekend that Chinese hackers had broken into a system used by the White House Military Office for nuclear commands.

It cited defense and intelligence officials familiar with the incident, who reportedly claimed the hack took place in September and was most likely carried out by Chinese military cyber warfare experts under the direction of a unit known as the 4th Department of General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army.

China has been implicated in a number of major cyber attacks in recent times. It was accused of carrying out Operation Aurora – a six-month-long cyber attack that hit Google and 30 other United States-based companies in 2009. The emerging superpower was also accused of hitting Japanese contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2011.

Yet a report from earlier this year claimed China was the most targeted victim of such attacks. It said that in 2011, a total of 47,000 overseas IPs were involved in attacks on the country’s systems.

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