The US Department of Labor’s website has been infiltrated by [Chinese] hackers, according to a report from security firm AlienVault. “During the last few hours we have identified that the US Department of Labor website has been hacked and it is serving malicious code,” he said. They modified some files in the website so when a user visits the website some malicious code will be loaded from a malicious server. He said the firm has also detected a second function in the attack code, instructing it to target a patched vulnerability in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.<\/p>\n
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That backdoor communicates with a malicious server and the attackers can actually send orders to the system such as uploading and downloading files, executing commands, installing new malware,” he explained. The attack sends the hackers useful information like what security programmes the infected system has, what Java and Flash version is being used.<\/p>\n
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This reached new heights earlier this year when security firm Mandiant reported linking an advanced cyber campaign targeting the US government to a Chinese military unit.<\/p>\n
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More recently, Verizon claimed Chinese hackers are responsible for 96 percent of the world’s active cyber espionage campaigns in its Data Breach Investigations Report 2013.<\/p>\n
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