The new information, comes from the Slovakia-based
cybersecurity firm ESET, comes amid warnings from U.K. and U.S. officials about
a significant cybersecurity threat emanating from China, particularly to
critical infrastructure.
Mustang Panda,
previously accused of espionage against governments and organizations in Asia
and Europe, has used similar malware tools in past spying campaigns. The tools allow an attacker to gain full
access to a device and issue commands upon gaining entry.
This purportedly marks
the first instance of a China-linked cyber espionage group focusing on
commercial shipping. “We haven’t seen this in the past,” said Robert Lipovsky,
the principal threat intelligence researcher at ESET, adding that there was a
clear interest in this sector.
However, it remains
unclear if the cyber spying effort involved the use of USB devices physically
planted at the companies or on ships, according to NBC News. China’s embassy in Washington has strongly denied the accusations,
with spokesman Liu Pengyu stating that China is a victim of cyber-attacks and
stands firmly against all forms of cyber-attacks, its report said.