Industrial espionage or, as I tend to refer to it, the logical progression of script kiddies who managed to not get caught in the 90’s. This time hackers were going after AutoCAD as their attack vector of choice. Seems that we’ve come a long way from the clandestine meetings in the park.
Well, that part will continue I’m sure.
From The Telegraph:
It targeted software called AutoCAD, which is very widely used by industrial designers and architects. The stolen drawings were surreptitiously sent to email accounts provided by two Chinese internet firms, 163.com and qq.com, although this is no guarantee the criminals behind the raid were Chinese. It is believed ACAD/Medre.A was distributed to Peruvian companies via a booby-trapped AutoCAD template that was initially sent to public bodies. The virus was first detected some months ago but ESET saw a sudden spike in infections two months ago as its authors began to exploit their creation.
I am pleased that the journalist in the case made the point of noting that there is no guarantee that the perpetrators were in fact Chinese. This is a distinction that is necessary to point out. An IP address is NOT a smoking gun.
Free stuff is never free.
Source: Article Link
(Image used under CC from 10 Ninjas Steve)
