At least 27 universities in the U.S., Canada, and southeast Asia were targeted by Chinese hackers seeking to gain access to maritime military research, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Most of the universities were studying marine technology and had ties to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, including the University of Washington, University of Hawaii, Penn State, and Duke University. The cyber campaign, first identified by cybersecurity intelligence firm iDefense, dates back to 2017 and was carried out using phishing attempts that contained malware.
"They are a full-fledged operation," Ben Read, senior manager for cyber espionage analysis at FireEye, told The Wall Street Journal of the hacking group known as Temp.Periscope, Leviathan or Mudcarp. "And they are not going anywhere."
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a Massachusetts research institute that located the sunken Titanic and partners with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, was also likely comprised, reports the WSJ.
Researchers identified breaches based on observations that their networks' school servers were pinging back to China.
The hacking group has previously stolen sensitive military information during hacks of Navy contractors and subcontractors, reports the WSJ.
Chinese officials have denied they engage in cyber attacks though no one responded to the WSJ's request for comment.
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