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Chinese Hackers Seemingly Behind Coca-Cola Hack of 2009

Although an event of 3-yrs back i.e. 2009, Bloomberg News has published only recently (1st-week of November 2012) how hackers apparently from China infiltrated protected computers at Coca-Cola the biggest soft-drink company globally.

Indeed a thorough examination of the hack shows that the computer-invaders, who understandably belonged to Comment Group based in China, distributed malicious e-mails for acquiring admission into all Microsoft Windows-running PCs or laptops at the Coca-Cola plant and subsequently controlling those systems from the remote. When the incident occurred, Coca-Cola was attempting at an acquisition of the China-based Huiyuan Juice Group.

The news report also indicates that during the initial 2-days of the incident, some 12 tools were uploaded that let the hackers filch documents and e-mails, plant keystroke-logging software onto a high-profile official's system in Hong Kong, as well as steal passwords that other Coca-Cola staff used, some of them with administrative authority, so the hackers could access any part of the company easily.

The Huiyuan acquisition was shortly halted albeit it isn't yet clear if the attack had to do anything with that.

Making a statement, Chief of Security Lab Jaime Blasco of AlienVault said that an inside report from Coca-Cola suggested that the hackers had backing from the state; however, the hack's nature along with the methodology and malicious software applied clearly indicated that they belonged to Comment Group. Infosecurity-magazine.com published this dated November 6, 2012.

Remarking about the aforementioned hacking event, Kent Landers Spokesman of Coca-Cola stated that his enterprise would not elucidate security issues; nevertheless, it overcame security threats via coordinating with the global law-enforcement and security agencies. Coca-Cola publicly disclosed such problems only if it was convinced about their appropriateness as also if they were as per the federal acts on Internet-security, Landers additionally stated. Businessweek.com published this dated November 4, 2012.

Meanwhile, authorities feel it's the same Comment hackers' cabal that had a role in stealing information during 2011 wherein the information related to leases of natural gas to be bought from Chespeake Energy. Strangely, it wasn't from Chespeake's computers that the data got hacked rather from a sales expert's PC who handled the transactions.

Related article: CNNIC Tries to Justify Its Software

» SPAMfighter News - 11/12/2012

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