Massive Cyberattack Struck 760 Companies

A massive cyberattack hit 760 companies earlier this year, bringing rsa Security Solutions to its knees, and victimizing Google, Microsoft and Facebook and scores of other corporate giants, according to an analysis released on October 24. Of the 345 command and control networks used to carry out the attacks, 299 were located in or near Beijing, China.

Back in March, rsa admitted that its servers had been breached and industry specialists long believed it was not the only victim of the attack, but no other company had been willing to publicly admit it had been infiltrated.

Among the companies targeted were around one fifth of the Fortune 100, and many other huge corporations such as Amazon, Freddie Mac, Abbot Laboratories, Motorola Inc., Charles Schwab, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Wells Fargo, Seagate Technology, ibm, Intel, Yahoo, Cisco, Google, Facebook and Microsoft. The hackers also hit many government agencies including the Internal Revenue Service, the European Space Agency and the General Services Administration.

Experts say that although many of the targeted companies were not infiltrated to a damaging degree, the sheer number of organizations involved in the attack makes it noteworthy.

Security analyst Brian Krebs pointed out that if hackers are able to infiltrate rsa, one of the world’s leading security firms, then organizations that do not specialize in security have slim chances of fending them off, or even discovering them.

About 88 percent of the command and control servers used to launch the attacks were located in China. The other servers used were in South Korea, Brazil, India, Italy, Pakistan, the United States and the United Kingdom. Krebs said “the overwhelming majority” of the Chinese networks were in or near Beijing.

In the May 2005Trumpet, editor in chief Gerald Flurry warned about the vulnerability of the U.S.’s computer systems: “Exploiting this vulnerable point could trigger the greatest shock in the history of warfare! … I believe one key end-time Bible prophecy could well be fulfilled through [cyberwarfare]: ‘They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof’ (Ezekiel 7:14). The trumpet of war is to be blown in Israel—mainly America and Britain. … It seems everybody is expecting our people to go into battle, but the greatest tragedy imaginable occurs! Nobody goes to battle—even though the trumpet is blown! Will it be because of computer terrorism?”

To understand more about the sobering implications of America’s susceptibility to cyberattacks, read Mark Jenkins’s article from our August issue, “The Invisible War.”