14 DAY TRIAL // The National Research Council (NRC) in Canada was determined to shut down its computer systems in order to stop cyber attacks identified to originate from China.
According to CTV News, the organization has been under attack for the past month and had to resort to this measure in order to prevent hackers from stealing sensitive information.
It seems that the NRC, which is Canada’s premier science and technology research organization, is the main target of the attack. Its systems contain information about satellite technology, space and industrial innovation.
The implications of the incident are quite serious, because the Canadian government has converted 43 departments into a shared data service system, which means that if successful in their endeavor, the perpetrators could have accessed a trove of important data.
China has been blamed for a number of intrusions in multiple parts of the world, the purpose apparently being gathering mostly military details.
In an event that has been made public only recently, between October 2011 and August 2012, hackers allegedly tied to China’s People's Liberation Army advanced persistent threat unit, PLA Unit 61398, breached and exfiltrated information regarding the technology used for Israel’s Iron Dome.
The intrusions targeted Israel’s top defense contractors Elisra Group, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.