Technology Quarterly | New-look spooks
The tools of global spycraft have changed
And so has the world in which they are used, says Shashank Joshi
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A few years ago intelligence analysts observed that internet-connected cctv cameras in Taiwan and South Korea were inexplicably talking to vital parts of the Indian power grid. The strange connection turned out to be a deliberately circuitous route by which Chinese spies were communicating with malware they had previously buried deep inside crucial parts of the Indian grid (presumably to enable future sabotage). The analysts spotted it because they were scanning the internet to look for “command and control” (c2) nodes—such as cameras—that hackers use as stepping stones to their victims.
This article appeared in the Technology Quarterly section of the print edition under the headline “New-look spooks”