Chinese Hosting Company Named In Cyber Attacks On U.S. Oil Companies

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Chinese Hosting Company Named In Cyber Attacks On U.S. Oil Companies

February 14th, 2011 By: THN News

(The Hosting News) – Song Zhiyue, a technician for the website hosting company Science and Technology Internet, in northeaster Shandong province of China was recently named by McAfee in relation to attack against U.S. oil and gas companies over the past years. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Zhiyue stated over the phone “What? You’re sure it’s my company?”

McAfee’s report found that hackers broke into computers of these companies in the Unites States, Taiwan, Greece, and Kazakhstan and regularly stole private information about bidding, operations, and the company’s finances. Their was no information regarding China’s state owned oil companies benefitting from the attacks or information received.

Although McAfee security firm did not name Zhiyue as one of the hackers, the report did state that they found him acting as a conduit to the hacking by either being “aware or has information that can help identify at least some of the individuals.” According to the McAfee report, Zhiyue claimed that he heard of the hackers in China targeting oil companies in the U.S. He continued to say that his company rents server space to hundreds of hackers.

Our company alone has a great number of hackers…I have several hundred of them among all my customers,” quoted the Hosting Owner. He openly revealed that hackers using his company’s services had an estimated 10,000 “meat computers” controlled remotely with his knowledge. While he did admit that these activities may not be right, he ensure that he had never been contacted by the Chinese authorities.

China is currently considered the hotspot of internet crime. China’s government maintains that they have no part with cyber-spying, however attacks such as the one on the British Foreign Office may suggest otherwise. Other intelligence reports leaked earlier this month from France accuse China of widespread industrial espionage, The reason behind Zhiyue’s change in confession currently remains a mystery. The report also concludes that the hackers mentioned may not be Chinese and instead are routing their activities through computers in China to conceal their identity.