Federal Drive

Hackers target U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Chinese hackers were able to access information about the Chamber\'s operations and its 3 million members.

Federal News Network Staff

December 21, 2011 7:41 am

< a min read

When a hacker goes to this much trouble, you might think he’d target the Pentagon, or the State Department. Nope. The Wall Street Journal reports hackers in China broke through the defenses of the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce is the top American business lobbying group.

The bad guys were able to access information about the Chamber’s operations and its 3 million members. The newspaper is reporting that the operation involved at least 300 internet addresses.

It was discovered in May 2010. Sources say the hackers might’ve had access to the network for more than a year before being discovered.

The COO tells the Wall Street Journal that this hacking group was sophisticated, targeted specific people and used sophisticated tools to try to gather intelligence.

This story is part of Federal News Radio’s daily Cybersecurity Update. For more cybersecurity news, click here.