The Most Famous Advanced Persistent Threats in History

Operation Aurora (claimed to be original name of the operation) was a series of cyber attacks launched in 2009, reported to have originated in China. The attack used a zero-day exploit to install a malicious Trojan horse named Hydraq, designed to steal information.

Early victims of APT attacks had generally been unwilling to publicize their experience or confront the suspected perpetrators. Fear of antagonizing their attackers or upsetting their customers and shareholders discouraged public announcements and retaliatory action, which served only to encourage attackers to go even farther. To its credit, Google was an exception to this culture of silence.

In January 2010, Google disclosed the attacks, claiming that 20 other companies had also been attacked, although it is now widely believed that the number was much higher. Victims were known to include Adobe Systems, Juniper Networks and Rackspace. Many other companies that were attacked preferred to remain anonymous, although reports indicated that they included leading banks, defense contractors, security vendors, oil and gas companies as well as a number of other technology companies. The email accounts of Chinese human rights activists were targeted as well.