Decade of the RATs: Cross-Platform APT Espionage Attacks Targeting Linux, Windows and Android

The recent Chinese New Year ushered in the Year of the Rat, but from the perspective of the many corporations, government agencies and other organizations around the world who continue to be the targets of Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups acting in the interest of the Chinese government, recent years could aptly be described as the Decade of the RATs – Remote Access Trojans, that is.

As China forges its role as one of the great world powers, it continues to rely upon a blast furnace of cyber espionage operations in order to acquire foreign technologies and intellectual property, to better position itself against the global influence of competing international powers, and to control its own image both at home and abroad.

In response to the pervasive economic espionage threat posed by China, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the China Initiative in November of 2018, a program “focused on preventing and prosecuting thefts of American technology and intellectual property for the benefit of China.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions noted “discoveries that took years of work and millions of dollars in investment here in the United States can be stolen by computer hackers or carried out the door by an employee in a matter of minutes…” (Department of Justice, 2018).

In February of 2020, the DOJ organized the China Initiative Conference in Washington, DC, where Attorney General William P. Barr stated that the DOJ believes the Chinese government is engaged in a multipronged strategy that includes “cyber intrusions, coopting private sector insiders through its intelligence services, and using non-traditional collectors, such as graduate students participating in university research projects.”

Download the report to read more.