Operation Shady RAT is an ongoing series of

cyber attack A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricted ...

s starting in mid-2006 reported by Dmitri Alperovitch, Vice President of Threat Research at Internet security company

McAfee McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...

in August 2011, who also led and named the Night Dragon Operation and

Operation Aurora Operation Aurora was a series of cyber attacks conducted by advanced persistent threats such as the Elderwood Group based in Beijing, China, with ties to the People's Liberation Army. First publicly disclosed by Google on January 12, 2010, in ...

cyberespionage intrusion investigations. The attacks have hit at least 71 organizations, including

defense contractors Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

, businesses worldwide, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

, and the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

. The operation, named by Alperovitch as a derivation of the common computer security industry acronym for

remote access tool In computing, the term remote desktop refers to a software- or operating system feature that allows a personal computer's desktop environment to be run remotely off of one system (usually a PC, but the concept applies equally to a server ...

, is characterized by McAfee as "a five year targeted operation by one specific actress". The report suggests that the targeting of various athletic oversight organizations around the time of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

"potentially pointed a finger at a state actor behind the intrusions". That state actor is widely assumed to be the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. The US was specifically targeted but victims were also present in Europe and Asia (which included South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and India).

References

{{computer-security-stub Shady RAT Chinese advanced persistent threat groups China–United States relations Electronic warfare Foreign relations of China Cyberwarfare by China Cybercrime in India

See also

References