Chinese hackers poke the Bayer, but German giant says it withstood attack
German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer says it has been hit by malware, possibly from China, but that none of its intellectual property has been accessed.
On Thursday the aspirin-flingers issued a statement confirming a report from Reuters that the Winnti malware, a spyware tool associated with Chinese hacking groups, had been detected on some of its machines.
The malware was spotted on Bayer PCs in early 2018, with the company silently monitoring its behavior for more than a year before finally pulling the plug on the operation last month and notifying authorities.
"Our Cyber Defense Center detected indications of Winnti infections at the beginning of 2018 and initiated comprehensive analyses," a Bayer spokesbod said in a statement to The Register.
"There is no evidence of data outflow. Our experts at the Cyber Defense Center have identified, analyzed and cleaned up the affected systems, working in close collaboration with the German Cyber Security Organization (DCSO) and the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia. Investigations of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Cologne are ongoing."
The Winnti malware, which allows hackers a backdoor into the infected machine, has long been used by China-based hacking groups looking to lift trade secrets and other vital corporate information from foreign companies.
Researchers have spotted the rogue code as far back as 2009 when Winnti was spotted ripping off digital certificates and source code from games developers.
The attack comes as researchers have warned of increases in hacking activities from Chinese groups looking to grab intellectual property on behalf of the government and local companies.
That Bayer would be targeted by hackers for its IP is hardly surprising. The German corporation, whose market cap is valued at more than $16bn thanks to the recent acquisition of agriculture kingpin Monsanto, is one of the world's largest drugmakers and its network is host to highly valuable information on those products.
source theregister
Industry: Cyber Security News
Latest Jobs
-
- Security Analyst. Financial Services. UK. Permanent
- Unknown
- N/A
-
CH7863 Security Analyst. End User . Financial Services Security Analyst needed to monitor and manage a security suite of tools within an End User environment. The Security Analyst will be responsible monitoring, configuring, fine tuning, incident management and generally improving the security tool capability. Specific experience with CyberArk, Tripwire Log Center and Tripwire Enterprise is highly desirable). Current experience with Vulnerability management and penetration testing is highly desirable. Specifically the ability to effectively manage 3rd party pen tests. You will be working within a specialist security team reporting to the CISO. Experience working within an end user environment within financial services is highly desirable. Flexible location. This is an exclusive role to DCL Search & Selection. To book a call please use my Calendy link https://calendly.com/chris-holt/arranged-call-with-chris-holt-soc-role-
-
- DevSecOps - Security design / review consultant. SC Clearance. London
- London
- N/A
-
CH7858 London £70,000 DevSecOps - Security design / review consultant. DevSecOps - Security design / review consultant will ensure that newly created, public facing apps are secure by design and by default by aligning them to current / best practice security policies and standards into the design phases. The individual must have a technical software / application development background with specalist experinece in secure architecture design. (Frameworks, processes, best practice etc) Practical experience translating and ensuring that the OWASP top 10, ISO27001, HMG frameworks requirements are reviewed and embedded into project designs which are implemented is essential. Experience working projects through a full development lifecycle is key. You will work along side the design and project teams to idenitfy and mitigate risks throughout the design phases. This is a permanent role. SC clearance is essential as is the ability to get to the London office. (When appropiate #covid) Security DevSecOps consultant. To arrange a discreet call book via https://calendly.com/chris-holt/devsecopp--security-design-review-consultant
-
- CONTRACTOR Cyber Vulnerability Analyst, NESSUS, Rapid 7, SC clearance required.
- London
- N/A
-
Cyber Vulnerability analyst NESSUS, Rapid 7, needed for IMMEDIATE 3 month contract MUST have / be able to achieve UK SC clearance role to work within a live environment within a public sector department. The individual must have experience in using various security methods and tools such as Rapid7 and NESSUS scan for / identify vulnerabilities, prioritise them according to risk and raise appropriate tickets for remediation / follow up. In depth experience utilising Nessus highly beneficial. Current cyber public sector experience highly desirable.
-
- Internal Security Auditor, Level 1 Service Provider (ISO27001)
- London
- Upto 55,000 plus benefits
-
Internal Security Auditor ISO 27001, PCI, needed to join a Cyber team within this expanding Fintech business. The Internal Security Auditor will have end to end responsibility for planning, delivering, remediating any findings etc. Experience working within financial services is highly desirable. This Is a great time to join a newly formed and growing Cyber team within a rapidly expanding fintech, that is taking a major share of its market. We are looking for someone with experience, (but not to be limited to) a mix of Information Security standards, frameworks, audit principles, controls / policies and the management and use of the technical tooling etc. ISO 22301, ISO 27001, NIST Cybersecurity Framework etc An ideal candidate will be working within an end user environment with a cyber consultancy background. Experience taking a company through accreditation is highly desirable Experience managing internal stakeholders, technical teams and external third parties essential Flexible working, but with the ability to get into London. This is an exclusive role to DCL Search & Selection.