Spying operations targeted Australian businesses

BHP and Rio’s networks were infiltrated by Chinese hackers. The campaign also expanded to both companies’ advisers.

The Wikileaks cables revealed that BHP boss Marius Kloppers told a US consul-general in Melbourne that he was so fearful of Chinese spying that he shifted his export contracts to market prices because arms-length negotiations were impossible

It’s global cyber war out there, Financial Review, Christopher Joye, 2 Jan 2013, “:……….OPERATION AUSTRALIA There are a range of cyber-menaces that keep Australia’s spooks awake at night. The first is the usual state-on-state espionage. When officials refer to the “big C”, they are not talking about cancer.

Notwithstanding rhetoric from businesses keen to promote prosperous relations with the Middle Kingdom, the national security community says China is responsible for cyberthefts of Australian assets at every imaginable level.

Former attorney-general McClelland publicly referred to Ghostnet, which was a sweeping Chinese spying operation that breached government computers in 103 countries and “the private office of the Dalai Lama”. Ghostnet gave its masters real-time, remote-access control over victims’ computers and could record key-strokes, audio and video…….

The director-general of ASIO, DavidIrvine, says that “cyber espionage has emerged as a serious and widespread concern. Enormous volumes of data are being taken from [governments via] vulnerable, internet-linked computer networks. Cyber-espionage by state actors is the new growth industry.”

Sovereign rivals are also eagerly breaking into more susceptible private networks. John Blackburn, who has published an analysis of the cyber challenge, says that “many Australian businesses do not comprehend the sheer scale of the rising cyber threat or its impact on their financial wellbeing”.

Kaspersky agrees that businesses underestimate the risks. But he adds that it’s not just Australia’s problem: “Most governments around the world, including Australia’s, probably believe they are safe. Yet the internet knows no borders. There is nothing to stop malware from traversing the planet in a matter of seconds.”

“A hacker group can target a company on the other side of the planet just as easily as they can in their home country.”
One respected Australian security expert, who asked not to be named, says “It’s relatively easy to link the bulk of attacks on our clients to businesses that are working with China as a customer, or competing against them.”

In his experience, the most popular targets are resources companies, defence contractors, lawyers serving as clearing-houses for confidential information and technology firms.

National security sources cite examples of foreign states that have blocked Australian companies from boosting their shares of markets.

When BHP Billiton tried to merge with Rio Tinto to create the world’s largest iron ore exporter, the China Mining Association’s deputy secretary-general reportedly responded, “it’s terrible. If completed, [it] would create a mining giant enjoying a monopoly in many mineral resources”.

BHP and Rio’s networks were infiltrated by Chinese hackers. The campaign also expanded to both companies’ advisers.

A state-backed enterprise, Chinalco, then entered the fray as a blocking bidder for Rio.

A similar situation occurred when BHP tried to buy the world’s largest potash producer. Chinese-based hackers infiltrated seven law firms involved in the Canadian deal, according to Bloomberg.

“Sinochem Group, China’s formerly state-owned chemical giant, hired Deutsche Bank and Citigroup to evaluate moves to disrupt BHP’s bid, a hostile tactic approved directly by the Chinese government,” Bloomberg reported.

January 2, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, secrets and lies

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