Chinese hackers reportedly targeted nearly 30 universities around the world in an attempt to steal military maritime technology secrets.
According to iDefense (a cybersecurity intelligence unit of Accenture Security) research obtained by The Wall Street Journal Tuesday, the University of Hawaii, the University of Washington and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are among at least 27 universities in the US, Canada and Southeast Asia that have been targeted by Chinese hackers.
The universities are believed to have been targeted as early as April 2017. iDefense is expected to publish its full findings in a report next week.
The cybersecurity unit also found that the majority of targeted universities have research hubs that focus on undersea technology or employ staff members with extensive maritime experience in certain fields.
In addition, most of the targeted universities were found to be connected to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, an organization “dedicated to advancing knowledge of the ocean and its connection with the Earth system,” according to its website. The institution is well known for discovering the location of the British passenger liner Titanic in 1985, more than 70 years after it sank.
According to iDefense, it was able to identify the targeted universities by noticing that their networks were pinging servers in China believed to be controlled by a Chinese hacking group known by three different names:…
