Techweb reports that CYBERsitter software company specialising in web filtering software, has sued the People"s Republic of China, two Chinese software makers, and seven computer manufacturers for distributing web filtering software called "Green Dam" with their intellectual property illegally included. CYBERsitter is reporting that they too were attacked this week, with the attack originating from China.
In a phone interview with TechWeb, Elliot Gipson of Gipson Hoffman & Pancione described what was another spear-phishing attack - the exact same exploit used against Google in China in late December last year. The attack used emails which were targeted at employees inside the company, and made to appear as if they were coming from other employees within the law firm. "They attempted to get the target to click on a link or attachment." he said.
The legal firm has performed initial internal investigations which showed that some of the email messages came from Chinese IP addresses and that some of the malware also originated from servers in China.
Gipson believes that noone has clicked on the malicious links, and that employees had been warned not to open documents or click links if they seemed suspicious, even if from a co-worker. He went on to say that despite the fact that the messages appeared to come from other members of the law firm, employees generally picked up on the dodgy phrasing, as they know each other personally. "You work with people, you know what they sound like," he said.
When CYBERsitter claimed that Green Dam contained its intellectual property last June, the company was hit by a similar attack, also supposedly originating from China. The lawfirm has not recieved a response from the Chinese government or any of the companies it is suing. It is seeking $2.2 billion in lost sales for the over 56 million copies of Green Dam distributed in China.