Chinese cyber security firm linked to Chicom spy operation

Bill Gertz:

A Chinese cyber security firm carried out a global campaign of cyber espionage and reconnaissance for the Ministry of State Security, Beijing's main civilian spy service, according to security researchers.

The company known as Boyusec, located in Guangzhou near Hong Kong, was traced to large-scale MSS cyber operations to steal corporate and government secrets, and to conduct cyber reconnaissance—preparing foreign networks for cyber attacks in a future conflict.

The company was first exposed as an MSS front by the Washington Free Beacon in November.

Following that report, an anonymous security group or researcher, identified only as "intrusiontruth," reported May 9 that Boyusec is an MSS contractor and two of its officials, Wu Yingzhuo and Dong Hao were linked to Chinese intelligence cyber operations.

Then on May 17, the security firm Recorded Future confirmed that Boyusec is linked to MSS components.

"We believe that they were doing intelligence collection and reconnaissance work since at least 2010," Samantha Dionne, a threat analyst with Recorded Future said in an interview.

"They've targeted a really broad range of companies and government departments," she added, including those in defense industries, telecommunications, advanced technology, and government departments in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Hong Kong.
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Identifying them is a start, but stopping them still appears to be a challenge unless the US is willing to do cyber counterstrikes to shut down their operations.