Operation Shady Rat Is The Largest Cyber Attack Ever Uncovered

If it wasn’t true before, it’s definitely true now. Hacking isn’t just for giggles, it’s a major threat to international security.

On Wednesday, McAfee released a 14-page report that details the largest coordinated cyber attack recorded to date. This particular attack, possibly orchestrated by China, broke into 72 organisations over the course of five years.

The targets include the US, Canada, Taiwan, India, South Korea, and Vietnam. The attack also hit the UN, the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-doping agency, defence contractors, tech companies and more. Most attacks lasted less than a month, but some, like that on the UN Secretariat, lasted for almost two years.

We may have wanted to stick our fingers in our ears and pretend a cyber attack like this wasn’t happening, but after this report, even my grandmother will know what this “cyber thingamabobber” is [Reuters; Shutterstock/Alexander Lukin]