Sinkholes reveal more Chinese-hacked biz - and piggybacking crims

Researchers have identified yet more high-profile organisations attacked by spying Chinese hackers after seizing hold of the miscreants' command-and-control servers.

Dell SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit (CTU) said that its tactic of "sinkholing" spyware-controlled systems is great for identifying custom malware and warning victims. It typically involves taking over the criminals' domain names to trick their armies of malware-infected computers - known as botnets - into communicating with the researchers' servers. While holding the reins, security experts can study a botnet, find out what sort of snooping the malware is capable of, learn more about its masters and potentially disrupt its villainous activities.