HACKERS TARGETED DEFENCE INDUSTRY

WASHINGTON At least two groups of China-linked hackers have spent months using a previously undisclosed vulnerability in American networking devices to spy on the U.S. defence industry, researchers and the devices’ manufacturer said Tuesday.

Utah-based IT company Ivanti said that the hackers took advantage of the flaw in its Pulse Connect Secure suite of virtual private networking devices to break into the systems of “a very limited number of customers.” Ivanti said a fix for the issue would not be available until early May. In a report, cybersecurity company Fireeye said it suspected that at least one of the hacking groups operates on behalf of the Chinese government.