Cyber-attacks on Google, US companies could be China's ploy to steal corporate secrets

Washington, Mar. 24 (ANI): An Obama administration official has revealed that the cyber attack on Google and other American companies was part of a suspected Chinese government plot to steal corporate secrets.

The Washington Times quoted the official as saying that the US government was able, with some confidence, to link the attack, first discovered last summer, to Chinese government organs.

He, however, refused to provide further details to avoid making future Chinese cyber-attack identification more difficult.

US Cybersecurity specialists have expressed fears over the likelihood of China planting undetectable software on American company networks that could allow further clandestine access or even total control of computers in the future.

"The attack was very targeted. It targeted engineers and quality assurance developers, people with very high levels of access into the organization," the paper quoted George Kurtz, chief echnology officer for computer security firm McAfee who investigated the attack for several of the affected companies, as saying.

"The infections were actually very few. It wasn't like a mass infection across a large organization. It was very targeted," he added. (ANI)