Chinese hackers turned focus to US experts on Iraq: security firm

A sophisticated group of hackers believed to be associated with the Chinese government, who for years targeted US experts on Asian geopolitical matters, suddenly began breaching computers belonging to experts on Iraq as the rebellion there escalated, a security firm said on Monday. CrowdStrike Inc said that the group is one of the most sophisticated of the 30 it tracks in China and that its operations are better hidden than many attributed to military and other government units. CrowdStrike co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch said he has ‘great confidence’ the hackers are affiliated with the government, though he declined to provide many details on the matter. China's Foreign Ministry repeated that the government opposed hacking and dismissed the report. ‘Some US Internet security firms ignore the US threat to the Internet and constantly seize upon the so-called China Internet threat. The evidence they produce is fundamentally untrustworthy and unworthy of comment,’ spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing in Beijing. CrowdStrike has a number of former US government officials on its staff and has produced a number of influential reports on overseas hacking groups. The United States will press China to resume cooperation on fighting cyber espionage to ensure an orderly cyber environment, a senior US official said on Tuesday ahead of annual talks between the world's two largest economies this week in Beijing, according to Reuters.