Chinese spies had acces to Dutch chip maker NXP's systems for over two years: report
The Chinese hacker group “Chimera” broke into NXP at the end of 2017 and had access to the Dutch chip manufacturer’s systems until the spring of 2020, NRC reports based on its own research. NXP states that the hackers caused no material damage, but did steal intellectual property. How much is not yet known, according to the newspaper.
According to NRC, the hackers used NXP employees’ accounts to log into the company network. They obtained this information from previous data leaks from other services like LinkedIn or Facebook and used brute force to guess the passwords. NXP protects its systems with an extra code provided over the telephone, but the hackers circumvented this double authorization by changing the telephone numbers.
Once in the first computer, the hackers gradually expanded their access rights, erased their tracks, and snuck into protected parts of the networks. There, they encrypted sensitive data they found and uploaded it to cloud storage services like Microsoft OneDrive. According to the newspaper, the hackers checked the NXP systems every few weeks for new data.
The NXP hack only came to light when another Dutch company was hacked - KLM subsidiary Transavial. In September 2019, hackers attempted to log into Transavia and gain access to the reservation systems. Transavia noticed a month later, filed a report with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP), and flew in specialists from Fox-IT to investigate. During that investigation, the researchers noticed that the hackers connected to IP addresses in Eindhoven, where NXP’s headquarters are located. Transavia tipped the chip maker in January 2020, and it immediately asked Fox-IT for help.
According to NXP’s subsequent financial reports, it seems like the hackers caused no material damage. They did, however, steal intellectual property. How much is not yet clear. NRC reported that the hackers mainly targeted NXP’s chip designs.
According to the newspaper, at least seven Taiwanese chip companies have also fallen victim to this same hacker group.
