Cybersecurity

Israeli firm says Chinese cyber-espionage tool used to spy on governments

An Israeli cybersecurity firm has identified a new and highly dangerous Chinese cyber-espionage tool that it says has been used to target governments around the world, The New York Times reported on Thursday. Tel Aviv-based Check Point Software Technologies says that the tool, dubbed Aria-body, has recently been used in cyberattacks against Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and other regional nations by Naikon, a hacking group linked to the Chinese military. It was discovered after it was used to target a worker in Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office. Naikon has been described by Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky as having conducted “at least five years of high volume, high profile, geo-political attack activity” targeting “top-level government agencies and civil and military organizations” in countries around the South China Sea.