Insider Threat: Chinese businessman steals transistor secrets from GE with insider help per The Register

A Chinese businessman based in Hong Kong was charged with conspiring to steal very valuable and sensitive information on transistor technology from GE to help set up a competing firm based in China. He had a little help from his friend or friends on the inside. Nothing confirmed as yet but potential investors were told that tech was worth $100 million. As we get better at securing endpoints and access points, expect adversaries to seek other ways in. Insider risk will always be a risk.

China is highly competitive and driven by their strategic “Made in China 2025” plan. As that deadline approaches expect to see a corresponding escalation in cyber espionage and recruitment of insiders to gain the advantage over Western rivals.

Gootloader malware: Abusing SEO and hacking CMS per Bleeping Computer

Gootloader malware has evolved do more than deliver the Gootkit information stealer and REvil ransomware. It has created a considerable network of poisoned sites and is abusing SEO in Google to show fake forums targeted to specific geographic regions only with malicious links. The operators behind Gootloader have as many as 400 active servers running legit but hacked websites. Researchers describe a convoluted infection chain which takes time to unravel and works in the attackers’ advantage to deliver a range of malware. Sophos has a technical analysis of Gootloader here.