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Chinese hackers targeting smart cards to grab U.S. defense data

2012-01-13 15:09 by
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Chinese hackers have embedded malicious software targeting smart cards used by the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and several other United States government agencies employees. A new strain of the Sykipot Trojan has been used for the attacks.

"Like we have shown with previous Sykipot attacks, the attackers use a spear phishing campaign to get their targets to open a PDF attachment which then deposits the Sykipot malware onto their machine," according to security company AlienVault. "Then, unlike previous strains, the malware uses a keylogger to steal PINs for the cards. When a card is inserted into the reader, the malware then acts as the authenticated user and can access sensitive information. The malware is controlled by the attackers from the command & control center."

The researchers say the Chinese hackers are specifically targeting smart card readers that run ActivClient, a program made by ActivIdentity, a Fremont, California authentication company.

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