Report: Chinese hackers targeted Southeast Asian nations

By DAVID RISING
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — A U.S.-based private cybersecurity company says it has uncovered evidence Chinese hackers, likely state-sponsored, have been broadly targeting government and private-sector organizations across Southeast Asia, including those closely involved with Beijing on infrastructure development projects. Specific targets included the Thai prime minister’s office and the Thai army, the Indonesian and Philippine navies, Vietnam’s national assembly and the central office of its Communist Party, and Malaysia’s Ministry of Defense, according to the report by the Insikt Group, the threat research division of Massachusetts-based Recorded Future. It says the hacks made use of custom tools that are not publicly available and are used by multiple groups believed to be Chinese state-sponsored.