Verizon Security Report Finds A Growing Number Of Attacks By China's Hacker Army

Verizon’s annual Data Breach Investigations Report, which will be released on Tuesday, found the number of attacks by state-affiliated actors had nearly tripled from last year and that 96 percent were attributed to China.

The report supports claims made in February by Mandiant, a U.S. computer security company, that a unit of China’s People’s Liberation Army known as APT1 had compromised 141 corporations—most of them American—over the course of the last seven years with the goal of stealing intellectual property. Mandiant’s claim was based on activity it observed directly, and the company cautioned that its information “represents only a fraction of the cyber espionage that APT1 has conducted.” In addition to APT1, Mandiant warned China is home to more than 20 similar groups.