GINC-APT-0884 · State

Operation Titan Rain

Category
State · Attributed to a state or working for one.
Origin
China(high confidence)
Sponsor
State-sponsored, PLA Unit 61398
Motivation
Information theft and espionage
Seen
2003
Sources
3 sources carry it
Identifier
GINC-APT-0884 · operation-titan-rain

What it is

(Kaspersky) Hacks against the Defense Department and other U.S. agencies stretching back to 2003 were codenamed Titan Rain by investigators. The attacks, which breachedhundreds of networks, including Departments of State, Energy and Homeland Security, were coordinated from Chinese computers, investigators found. Global defense contractor Lockheed Martin and NASA were also struck in what many experts called an attempt to glean information on U.S. systems. While it’s usually difficult to locate the country of origin for such attacks, researchers were able to trace them back to the Chinese province of Guangdong. However, the individuals behind the operation remain a mystery to this day.

Attribution

Each attribution is a claim: who makes it, and to whom. Western and Eastern sources are kept apart, as they often disagree.

Western sources

Targets

Countries
United Kingdom, United States
Sectors
Defense, Energy, Government

Sources