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Chinese Hackers Suspected in Long-Term Nortel Breach

By Datamation.com Staff,

The hackers used seven stolen passwords to access the company's servers for over a decade.

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Wall Street Journal: An internal investigation at Nortel Networks revealed that hackers likely based in China enjoyed access to the company's networks for a decade. In 2000, the hackers stole passwords belonging to seven top executives, including the CEO, and used their access to downloaded technical papers, research-and-development reports, business plans, employee emails and other documents.

Former Nortel employee Brian Shields said he first discovered the security breach in 2004, but the company failed to take adequate measures to prevent future attacks. The attacks continued intermittently until 2009, when the company filed for bankruptcy.

The Chinese government denied involvement in the incident, calling the cyberattacks "transnational and anonymous."



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