Five oil firms became victims of Chinese hackers

Almaty. February 11. Kazakhstan Today - The Chinese hackers have cracked computer systems of five transnational oil and gas corporations and have stolen the confidential data about industrial processes and plans, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Hackers working in China broke into the computer systems of five multinational oil and gas companies to steal bidding plans and other critical proprietary information, the computer security firm McAfee Inc said in a report, Reuters reported.

The attacks are the latest computer-based invasions directed at western companies, and come a year after Internet giant Google and more than 100 companies were targeted by hackers that were traced to China.

Stock market owner NASDAQ OMX reported over the weekend that hackers appeared to have breached its systems, and new legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate that would strengthen cyber security.

In the attacks against the oil companies, the hackers got into the computers either through their public websites or through infected emails sent to company executives.

During the last two years - and up to four years - the hackers had access to the computer networks, focusing on financial documents related to oil and gas field exploration and bidding contracts, said Dmitri Alperovitch, McAfee's vice president for threat research.

They also copied proprietary industrial processes.

The hack was traced back to China via a server leasing company in Shandong Province that hosted the malware, another term for malicious software, and to Beijing IP addresses that were active from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Beijing time (0100-0900 GMT).

According to SCMagazineUS.com, the attackers used an elaborate cocktail of hacking techniques - including social engineering, spear phishing and the exploitation of Windows operating system vulnerabilities - to target and steal sensitive proprietary information about oil and gas field bids and operations, according to the report. The intrusions, which McAfee has dubbed "Night Dragon," began in November 2009, Dave Marcus, director of security research and communications at McAfee Labs, told SCMagazineUS.com on Thursday.

Victim computers were located in the United States, Kazakhstan, Taiwan, the Netherlands and Greece, he said.

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