Google uncovers Chinese hackers who breached 53 organizations globally
What's the story
Google has foiled a hacking group linked to China, which had breached at least 53 organizations in 42 countries. The group, known as UNC2814 or "Gallium," has been active for nearly a decade and specializes in infiltrating government agencies and telecom firms. "This was a vast surveillance apparatus used to spy on people and organizations throughout the world," John Hultquist of Google's Threat Intelligence Group said.
Disruption efforts
Google took several steps to thwart cyber threat
In a bid to thwart the cyber threat, Google and unnamed partners have taken several steps. They terminated Google Cloud projects owned by the hacking group, identified and disabled their internet infrastructure, and disabled accounts used by them to access Google Sheets. The use of Google Sheets helped the group avoid detection and blend in with normal network traffic, not compromising any Google product.
Global reach
Group installed backdoor on systems with sensitive personal information
Charlie Snyder, a senior manager at Google's Threat Intelligence Group, revealed that the hacking group had confirmed access to 53 unnamed entities across 42 countries. They also had potential access in at least 22 more countries when their activities were disrupted. In one instance, the group installed a backdoor called "GRIDTIDE" on a system containing sensitive personal information like full names, phone numbers, dates of birth, place of birth, voter ID, and national ID numbers.
Official statement
China rejects allegations of hacking activities
In response to the cyber security concerns, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy said that "cyber security is a common challenge faced by all countries and should be addressed through dialogue and cooperation." The spokesperson added, "China consistently opposes and combats hacking activities in accordance with the law, and at the same time firmly rejects attempts to use cyber security issues to smear or slander China."