Q/A Massive cyber attack

Q+A: Massive cyber attack dubbed Operation Shady RAT | Reuters: "McAfee Vice President of Threat Research Dmitri Alperovitch said the attacker sought data that would give it military, diplomatic and economic advantage.

'If you look at an industry and think about what is most valuable in terms of intellectual property, that is what they were going after,' Alperovitch said. As examples, he cited email archives, negotiation documents and schematics for electronics.

Q. Who did it?

A. McAfee's Alperovitch said he believes that a nation state was behind the attacks, but he declined to identify it. He said the attacker is the same country that was behind other security breaches that McAfee has previously investigated.

Jim Lewis, an expert in cyber attacks with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was briefed by McAfee. Lewis said the presence of Taiwan and the International Olympic Committee in the victims list suggest China is most likely the perpetrator of the attack.

Q. How valuable is the data that was stolen?

A. 'This is the biggest transfer of wealth in terms of intellectual property in history,' Alperovitch said. 'The scale at which this is occurring is really, really frightening.'

'Companies and government agencies are getting raped and pillaged every day. They are losing economic advantage and national secrets to unscrupulous competitors,' he said."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/03/us-cyberattacks-qa-idUSTRE7720IS20110803

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/03/us-cyberattacks-idUSTRE7720HU20110803