Mainland Chinese hackers have attacked two Hong Kong government departments, a US-based security firm said yesterday, as the city prepares for a crucial election.
The attack occurred last month in the run-up to parliamentary elections tomorrow.
California-based security firm FireEye said that a China-based group is has been tracking since 2011 attacked at least two Hong Kong government agencies early last month.
The firm’s Asia Pacific chief technology officer Bryce Boland said that the group carrying out the attacks, known as APT3, “is sponsored by the People’s Republic of China.”
“Typically when we see government attacks on other governments, it’s about intelligence gathering and trying to gain access to information they can’t get via other means,” Boland told reporters.
There is “a lot of discussion, a lot of uncertainty about the political future in Hong Kong. I imagine it is trying to get a clearer picture of what’s going on inside some of these government departments,” he said.
One of the methods used by APT3 in the recent hacks was to send an e-mail claiming to be an election results report, which contained a malicious hyperlink leading to malware.
Authorities have confirmed the attacks saying: “Relevant security measures had already been put in place to block the suspicious e-mails.”
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