It is no surprise that cyber espionage has been growing larger and larger. Significant players come from Russia and China, two giants in the cyber science that can invest money and time towards gaining information that might come in handy. The latest breaking news has highlighted the Chinese as the major suspects in the scandal emerged related to sex information breached from US Government employees.
Up to 18 million records of American individuals have been exposed within this year, according to the sources that estimate this breach as a great problem with a massive impact in the United States. Of course, China does not take the blame and the Chinese newspaper called “Global Times” has refused any relation of their country to the hack.
This last event was no first to people from all over the globe. As it has been outlined, the British Government had first experienced the consequences of cyber hacking (possibly from similar Chinese sources) back in 2003.
This is the year when an email included some sort of virus hidden in an image and launched a hacking attack of great proportion. Some years later (in 2012), Jonathan Evans was prompt enough to warn about the extent of the cyber attacks and the power behind them. The Director General of MI5 at the time that there were also some businesses from the United Kingdom that had been hit with the same weapons (meaning the cyber hacking experts in China, probably) and that one incident has led to £800 million in losses.
Still, it is not just China; instead, there is evidence that the Russian cyber espionage has become a true asset in their hands. Given the fact that there is such a huge correlation between the prosperity of Russia and energy resources, it is needless to point out that there will be all the necessary measures that will allow the Russians to have the upper hand in exporting energy. They have targeted a British energy company, in order to ensure just that and this is not the only case.
Among the people who have urged the impact of cyber espionage internationally is Edward Snowden. He has exposed the cyber espionage tactics of the NSA and other organizations, alerting everyone on how the whole story goes. Such people are the only ones who are straightforward and hand out all the information to the public. However, there are many doubts as to whether or not the Governments and the companies involved in the security breaches are equally straightforward and honest with the people.
Either way, China and Russia are major players in the field of cyber espionage and they are not the only ones!
Written by: Ali Qamar, Founder/Chief Editor at SecurityGladiators.com
Author Bio:
Ali Qamar is an Internet security research enthusiast who enjoys “deep” research to dig out modern discoveries in the security industry. He is the founder and chief editor at Security Gladiators, an ultimate source for cyber security. To be frank and honest, Ali started working online as a freelancer and still shares the knowledge for a living. He is passionate about sharing the knowledge with people, and always try to give only the best. Follow Ali on Twitter @AliQammar57
(Security Affairs – cyber espionage, Russia , China)