UK warns of hacker attacks
2005-06-16 12:50
London - Asian hackers have launched an unprecedented number of e-mail-borne attacks on vital British government and company networks to gather commercial and economically valuable information, a government-backed agency warned Thursday.
The usually secretive National Infrastructure Security Coordination Centre issued one of its most high profile warnings about the sophisticated electronic attacks, which it said have targeted parts of the country's "critical national infrastructure."
The NISCC, which reports to Britain's Home Office, said that most of the attacks have been against central government computer systems, but other companies and individuals are also at risk.
The NISCC said determining the origin of the attacks was extremely difficult. The agency said it traced IP addresses - numeric addresses assigned to internet-connected computers - in the e-mails back to "the Far East."
It did not elaborate further or specify any countries.
The agency said that the attackers were using so-called Trojan e-mails to gain access to the systems.
Unsolicited e-mail
Hackers send an unsolicited e-mail, using subject lines that refer to news articles of interest to the recipient and a "spoofed" address to make it appear to be from a trusted contact. The Trojan - a computer code - is then secretly installed on the recipient's computer, either when the recipient opens an attachment or follows links to a web site. The installed Trojan code allows the remote attacker to gain control of the system.
The attacks normally focused on individuals who have jobs working with commercially or economically sensitive data, the NISCC said.
"Once installed on a user machine, Trojans may be used to obtain passwords, scan networks, exfiltrate information and launch further attacks," the NISCC said in a briefing urging all businesses to tighten security.
"The attackers' aim appears to be covert gathering and transmitting of commercially or economically valuable information," it added.
- AP