Top cyber security companies co-operate against Chinese hacking group

A number of security firms are working together against an emerging cyber threat in China.

No fewer than 10 companies are pooling their resources in a bid to combat an  APT (advanced persistent threat) Chinese state hacker group.

Similar efforts have been made in the past, when cyber criminals in general were the target. However, FireEye, Symantec, Cisco, Microsoft and others are focusing their attention on a particular gang of hackers, known as the Axiom group, along with its malware applications.

Cyber analytics company Novetta released a report which says that Axiom has been based in China for a minimum of four years. The report asserts that in that time, it has been supporting China’s national strategies and targeting international Fortune 500 firms, public sector groups, environmental organisations, and journalists.

Peter LaMontagne, CEO of Novetta, said that as the hackers’ strategy is essentially open source, as they share and modify malware, the defence team needs to adopt the same approach.

This is about as high end as it gets when it comes to fighting cyber crime, but it’s not an unimpressive group of super firms by anyone’s standards. Fortunately, the typical SME doesn’t have to concern itself with getting involved at such an advanced level of cyber warfare. It does, however, need to address its IT security recruitment policies, as too many businesses are failing to take cyber security seriously.

If they don’t address it soon, they may just come to regret it.