A Chinese firm reportedly conducted a cyber attack, breaching nearly 100 gigabytes of Indian immigration data. The Washington Post revealed in an investigation that hacking groups from China compromised 95.2 gigabytes of immigration data from the Indian government, as India remains a primary target for hackers based in Beijing.
The Washington Post published a report indicating that Chinese state-linked hacking groups leaked a trove of documents, targeting foreign governments, companies, and infrastructure through large-scale cyber attacks.
These hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in software systems from major companies such as Microsoft, Apple, and Google, as stated in the report. The cache, which comprises over 570 files, images, and chat logs, provides unprecedented insight into the operations of a firm hired by Chinese government agencies for extensive data-collecting operations.
The leaked files, deemed credible by cybersecurity experts, were posted to GitHub last week, revealing contracts detailing cyber attacks on 20 foreign governments, including India, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and Malaysia, among others.
The documents originated from a Chinese company named ISoon, headquartered in Shanghai, known for providing third-party hacking and data gathering services to state-owned companies and Chinese government bureaus. ISoon also breached democracy organizations in Hong Kong, universities, and the NATO military alliance.
A leaked ISoon document showcased a spreadsheet of 80 potential targets for cyber attacks, with India already being successfully hit. One spreadsheet listed 80 overseas targets breached by iSoon hackers, including 95.2 gigabytes of immigration data from India and a 3-terabyte collection of call logs from South Korea’s LG U Plus telecom provider.
While ISoon’s official website was inaccessible after Thursday morning, the data breach documents indicated that the company had internal communication access, including email access to employees from foreign companies and government offices.
