​Federal Office for Information Security warned German firms on Chinese hacking

• The German Federal Office for Information Security has warned several German firms on Chinese hacking.
• China, Russia, and other countries are targeting German companies’ computers to steal industrial information.

The German Federal Office for Information Security - BSI has warned several German firms who could be potential targets on Chinese hacking, a daily newspaper reported. It is to be noted that Chinese attacks against German firms have increased. Security experts have long warned Germany that with its high level of technology expertise, it is an attractive target for cybercriminals.

Contents of the newspaper report

The most popular daily newspaper in Germany, Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote on Wednesday “Construction and materials research, engineering firms and some big commercial enterprises are the focus for hackers.”

The United States is involved in a trade conflict with China and a senior U.S. intelligence official said last week that Chinese cyber attacks in the United States targeting critical infrastructure had increased drastically in the recent months.

U.S. prosecutors are expected to charge that Chinese hackers were involved in a cyber espionage attack dubbed as “Cloudhopper” targeting technology service providers and their customers. Cloudhopper focuses on attacking large, third-party, data storage companies, and cloud software service companies that store data for U.S. companies and government agencies.

“Cloudhopper attacks were still relatively rare in Germany compared to attacks believed to originate in Russia. While there are not yet weekly victims, the attackers act in a more targeted manner and the damage could, therefore, be greater,” The Sueddeutsche Zeitung said.

Germany’s then domestic spy chief said that a growing number of countries can hack into private computer networks and install malicious software to sabotage another country’s critical infrastructure. He added that China, Russia, and other countries are targeting German companies’ computers to steal industrial information.

In order to defend themselves by the Chinese attackers, Germany’s cabinet is expected to lower the threshold to launch security probes of stake purchases by non-European entities to protect the critical infrastructure.