China's People's Liberation Army likely source of over 100 hacking attacks globally

NEW DELHI: A unit of China's People's Liberation Army ( PLA) is the likely source of hacking attacks against more than 100 companies globally, including in India, as per a report, Parliament was informed today.

US-based computer security firm Mandiant in its February 19, 2013 report, which was also published by Indian dailies, had come out with these findings, Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

"Government is aware of news reports published by Indian dailies mentioning findings of a report produced on February 19, 2013 by an American computer security company called Mandiant, indicating a PLA unit in Shanghai, China as the likely source of hacking attacks against more than a 100 companies around the world," he added.

Quoting from the report, the Minister said three out of 141 worldwide affected organisations are in India.

The reportedly affected systems in these three organisations are not part of military establishments, Deora added.

As per the policy implemented by the government of India, strict exclusion between Internet and official networks is being maintained by organisations involved in strategic activities, he said.

The government has adopted an integrated, multi-pronged strategy covering aspects such as technical, administrative, legal and people steps to protect cyber space, he added.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) tracks latest cyber threats and issues advisories and alerts to organisations suggesting measures to prevent and respond to the cyber security incidents, Deora said.