CrowdStrike Security Firm Claims Success in Deterring Chinese Hackers

Advertisement
By Reuters | Updated: 14 April 2015 17:32 IST
CrowdStrike Security Firm Claims Success in Deterring Chinese Hackers
U.S. cyber-security firm CrowdStrike Inc said Monday it had successfully prevented a Chinese hacker group from targeting a U.S. technology firm for the first time, offering promise for other companies facing cyber-attacks.

Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and chief technology officer of CrowdStrike, told Reuters his company had observed a China-based hacker group called Hurricane Panda halt its attacks on a U.S. Internet technology firm in January, after the hackers detected CrowdStrike's presence on the company's networks.

Alperovitch said firms in the financial and cyber-security sectors had shown interest because of the results.

The January incident occurred after CrowdStrike responded to a breach at another U.S. tech firm in April 2014 that also was traced to Hurricane Panda.

CrowdStrike later detected that the group was attempting to use a newly discovered Windows vulnerability, known as a "0-day" threat, to attack the firm.

Advertisement

After CrowdStrike reported this risk to Microsoft, which patched the vulnerability, the hacker group abandoned efforts to regain access to the network of the first firm, he said.

Alperovitch said CrowdStrike had a "high degree of confidence" that the hacker group was linked to the Chinese government, but gave no further details.

Advertisement

CrowdStrike was later hired by the second firm that the same Chinese group attempted to breach and expelled them from that company's networks, only to have them repeatedly seek to break back in, Alperovitch said.

He did not name either firm but said they worked in Internet infrastructure, which can include areas such as telecommunications, cloud computing and web hosting.

Advertisement

In January, Hurricane Panda managed to get a webshell onto the second company's server and executed commands to check if CrowdStrike was loaded in memory, Alperovitch said. Webshells, normally used by server administrators, are vulnerable to exploitation by hackers.

Once Hurricane Panda detected CrowdStrike's presence, the group exited that system and ceased further activity, he said.

"They realized that we had raised the cost and given the time and money wasted on the previous 0-day, decided it wasn't worth it," he said. "It was the first time we'd seen that."

Alperovitch said the incident offered a new security plan for many U.S. firms facing attacks on their networks.

CrowdStrike uses a team of two dozen "expert hunters" around the world who monitor clients' networks for signs of hackers and cyber-attacks, he said. This enables them to leverage and learn from other incidents at relatively low cost.

© Thomson Reuters 2015

 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Oppo Reno 14 5G Series Global Launch Scheduled for This Date
  2. Vivo Y400 Pro 5G With 5,500mAh Battery Launched in India: Price, Features
  3. iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max Price Discounted on Flipkart: See Offers
  4. Samsung Galaxy S24 FE Gets a Price Cut on Amazon: See Offer
  5. Samsung Galaxy Buds Core Listed Online, Revealing Design, Specifications
  6. Adobe Launches a New Camera App for iPhone With Full Manual Controls
  1. Samsung Galaxy S24 FE Gets a Price Cut on Amazon: See Offer
  2. Samsung Galaxy Buds Core Listed on Company Site; Design, Specifications Revealed
  3. iPhone 18 Pro Series Tipped to Get Hole-Punch Selfie Camera, Hidden Face ID System
  4. iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max Available at Discounted Prices on Flipkart: See Offers
  5. Oppo Reno 14 5G Series Global Launch Date Announced; Amazon, Flipkart Tease Online Availability in India
  6. Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 AI PC With Intel Core Ultra 9 Chip, Up to GeForce RTX 5080 GPU Launched in India
  7. Google Suffers Setback in Fight Over EU’s EUR 4.1 Billion Fine
  8. Vivo X Fold 5 India Launch Reportedly Set for Mid-July
  9. Trump Extends Deadline for US TikTok Sale to September
  10. Nothing Headphone 1 Renders and Live Images Leak Ahead of July 1 Launch; Shows Unique Design
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.