Chinese hackers stole India’s defence secrets: Report

NEW DELHI - Chinese hackers have stolen secret, restricted and confidential information from India’s defence ministry, its diplomatic missions abroad, the National Security Council Secretariat and various other bodies, a new report says.

“During our investigation we recovered documents that contain sensitive information that could be exploited by an adversary for intelligence purposes,” said the report, Shadows In the Cloud, released Monday.

It has been prepared by Information Warfare Monitor and Shadowserver Foundation, a group of Canadian and American cyber security researchers, after an eight-month study of Chinese hacking operations.

“We recovered a document that appears to be encrypted diplomatic correspondence, two documents classified as Secret, six as Restricted and five as Confidential, the report said.

These documents contain sensitive information taken from a member of the National Security Council Secretariat concerning secret assessments of India’s security situation in the states of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura as well as concerning the Naxalites and Maoists.

“In addition, they contain confidential information taken from Indian embassies regarding Indias international relations with and assessments of activities in West Africa, Russia/Commonwealth of Independent States and the Middle East, as well as visa applications, passport office circulars and diplomatic correspondence,” the report says.

The attackers also exfiltrated detailed personal information regarding a member of the Directorate General of Military Intelligence. We recovered documents and presentation to Pechora Missile system, Iron Dome Missile System and Project Shakti, the report added.

The report comes almost a month after India alleged that Chinese hackers attacked its government computer networks by. Officials in the defence ministry and the army refused to comment on the report.

“During our investigations we found that a variety of academic targets had been compromised, including those at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) as well as journalists at India Strategic defence magazine and FORCE magazine.

“The exfiltrated papers included those discussing the containment of the PRC (Peoples Republic of China), Chinese military exports, and Chinese foreign policy on Taiwan and Sino-Indian relations,” the report says.

According to the report, among other affected organisations are the Military Engineer Services, the 21 Mountain Artillery Brigade, military educational institutions, the National Maritime Foundation and the Gujarat Chemical Port Terminal Company Limited.

Shadows in the Cloud, its executive summary says, “documents a complex ecosystem of cyber espionage that systematically compromised government, business, academic, and other computer network systems in India, the offices of the Dalai Lama, the United Nations and several other countries”.

“Although the identity and motivation of the attackers remain unknown, the report is able to determine the location (Chengdu, PRC) as well as some of the associations of the attackers through circumstantial evidence,” the summary says.

“Given the sophistication of the intruders and the targets of the operation, the researchers said, it is possible that the Chinese government approved of the spying,” The New York Times, which carried the report Tuesday, contended.