Electronic Spy Network Focused on Dalai Lama and Embassy Computers [Wired: Threat Level]
The Internet is has become the preferred espionage playground for international spies in the 21st century. That fact was driven home this weekend with reports of a widespread spy network, nicknamed GhostNet, that was revealed to have been spying on embassies around the world. A group of computer researchers at the University of Toronto have exposed the existence of GhostNet in a detailed report that included the researchers infecting one of their own systems to trace the spies back to the source.
GhostNet, which infiltrated systems by social engineering users to open malware attachments or surf to infected web sites, targeted more than 1,200 computers in more than 100 countries around the world - including the United States. The infected computers included computers of the Dalai Lama's organization in India. Once infected, computers were systematically probed for documents and email sought by GhostNet operators, which were then transmitted back to the GhostNet servers.
In a related article in the New York Times, it was reported that GhostNet can even turn on a built-in camera and microphone in a computer and watch and hear everything that's going where the device is located. Sounds like a real-life version of the technology regularly utilized in "24."
The researchers who probed GhostNet's activities traced the GhostNet server location back to the island of Hainan in China. But the researchers were not able to conclusively prove whether GhostNet is operated by the Chinese government or independent hackers.
While most users aren't using machines that store the kind of sensitive government secrets that GhostNet appears to have been seeking, there are lessons here for all users to learn about avoiding a malware infection. If you receive an email from an unknown or suspicious sender asking you to open an attachment or visit a web site - don't do it. It's just that simple to catch an infection. And even if you don't store government secrets on your computer, hackers can steal personal financial information that might be on your computer with malware.
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