http://www.defenseone.com/threats/2015/10/signs-point-china-us-research-facility-hack/122897/
By GWYNN GUILFORD
QUARTZ
OCTOBER 16, 2015
Tech companies, healthcare giants, defense contractors, top universities,
the US government—you name it, Chinese cyber-spies have probably hacked
it. And now, it seems likely, we can add one of the world’s preeminent
marine research groups to the list.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution sustained a “sophisticated, targeted
attack” that looks to have originated from China, according to Christopher
Land, the organization’s general counsel and leader of its internal
investigation.
If the perpetrator is indeed from the People’s Republic, it marks the
latest in a series of high-profile hacks that US officials say has
resulted in theft of US commercial secrets, potentially sensitive
government information, and military data. With the US threatening
sanctions, Chinese president Xi Jinping recently vowed not to commit
commercial cyber-espionage—a pledge US officials are watching closely for
signs of follow-through.
WHOI isn’t a company or a government agency, but given its close ties with
the US military and the National Science Foundation, it’s not exactly a
regular research institution, either. Its vast cache of research holds
data on everything from bowhead whale habitats and plankton to
hydrographic surveys and oceanic oxygen levels—as well as classified work
WHOI does with the Navy and the US defense department.
[...]
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