"malware consists of programming (code, scripts, active content, and other software) that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior."(Wikipedia)
The two articles I looked at come from the website "Scoop.it" On this website you can find a bunch of post about different issues. The two articles I decided to look at deal with malware and how it is being used to steal very sensitive information relating to the Japanese Government and Mitsubishi Industries which is one of Japan's largest companies.
In the first article: "Japanese Parliament Cyber Attack". The Japanese Parliament talks about how they have come under a cyber attack from a server within China. In the upper house of the Parliament not to much damage was done, but in the lower house it was said that passwords and other data were stolen and sent back to a server within China. Just recently a number of Japanese diplomats information on the countries they travel to has come under attack. The intent behind this attack was to steal any pertinent information relating to the diplomats operations.
In the next article: ""Warplane and nuclear plant data were at risk in Mitsubishi Heavy attack" by Dean Wilson. The Japanese government expresses their frustration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries after they had a cyber -attack on their facilities and failed to report the issue in a timely manner. In this instance, it's reported that highly classified data might have been stolen from over 83 computers and servers.
Overall, I am a little worried about some of these cyber-attacks. You really don't know how much information has been stolen until it's too late. I believe companies need to have stronger safeguards in place to prevent these attacks from happening. We live in a world today were someone can create something so destructive just from behind their own computer. As I always say, individuals and corporations need to be more cognizant of their surroundings and stop being so naive. Instead of waiting for something catastrophic to happen use more preventative measures to combat these such things.
In the next article: ""Warplane and nuclear plant data were at risk in Mitsubishi Heavy attack" by Dean Wilson. The Japanese government expresses their frustration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries after they had a cyber -attack on their facilities and failed to report the issue in a timely manner. In this instance, it's reported that highly classified data might have been stolen from over 83 computers and servers.
"The company also revealed that they found evidence that suggested information on fighter jets and helicopters designed for Japan's Ministry of Defence and nuclear power plant and anti-earthquake data was pilfered by the hackers." (Wilson)
Because of this attack the Japanese government has threatened to penalize the company due to confidential information being released.
In both articles the culprit behind each of these attacks looks to be China. In these cases malware is being used in the worst form possible, because who is ever behind the viruses is using them to steal advanced technology information or in this case find out what their enemy is doing. As most people know China and Japan don't exactly have the best relationship between each other. There is a lot of built up tension between these two countries ever since the last World War. For this reason it doesn't surprise me that the China seem to be the usual suspects when things of this nature happen in Japan.
In the chart below you will see how the vast majority of malware being sent is coming from China.
Picture from this site
