Researchers Claim CIA Was Behind 11-Year-Long Hacking Attacks Against China

Qihoo 360, one of the most prominent cybersecurity firms, today published a new report accusing the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to be behind an 11-year-long hacking campaign against several Chinese industries and government agencies.

The targeted industry sectors include aviation organizations, scientific research institutions, petroleum, and Internet companies—which, if true, gives the CIA the ability to do “unexpected things.”

According to the researchers, these cyberattacks were carried out between September 2008 and June 2019, and most of the targets were located in Beijing, Guangdong, and Zhejiang.

“We speculate that in the past eleven years of infiltration attacks, the CIA may have already grasped the most classified business information of China, even of many other countries in the world,” the researchers said.

“It does not even rule out the possibility that now the CIA is able to track down the real-time global flight status, passenger information, trade freight, and other related information.”

The claims made by the company are based on the evidential connection between tools, tactics, and procedures used by a hacking group, dubbed ‘APT-C-39‘ against Chinese…