Two Indian defence magazines FORCE and India Strategic were hit by Chinese hackers recently, a joint report by the Munk University Information Warfare Monitor and Shadowserver foundation has found. The report, published today, notes, "We assess that computers at the India Strategic defence magazine and FORCE magazine were compromised based on the documents exfiltrated by the attackers. During the period in which we monitored the attackers, 58 documents were exfiltrated. While these documents include publicly accessible articles and previous drafts of those articles, there is also private information regarding the contact details of subscribers and conference participants. The documents also include interviews, documents, and PowerPoint presentations from conferences that detail national security topics, such as network data and monitoring for national security, and responses to combat cyber threats."The report continues: "During our investigations we found that a variety of academic targets had been compromised, including those at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) as well as journalists at India Strategic defence magazine and FORCE magazine. The exfiltrated papers included those discussing the containment of the PRC, Chinese military exports, and Chinese foreign policy on Taiwan and Sino-Indian relations. More specifically, there were documents that focused on ethnicity, religion and politics in Central Asia, and the links between armed groups and the PRC. Although the academic papers exfiltrated by the attackers are publicly available, the content of the material indicates that the attackers managed to compromise those with a keen interest in the PRC."
This is of course just the tip. The report reveals that several agencies and units, including the IAF station in Vadodara, the 21 Mountain Brigade and the Military Engineer Service had information stolen by Chinese hackers.