BEIJING — Cyberattacks traced to China targeted at least 48 chemical and military-related companies in an effort to steal technical secrets, a U.S. computer-security company said Tuesday, adding to complaints about pervasive Internet crime linked to this country.
The targets included 29 chemical companies and 19 others that make advanced materials used by the military, California-based Symantec Corp. said. The group included multiple Fortune 100 companies.
“The purpose of the attacks appears to be industrial espionage, collecting intellectual property for competitive advantage,” said the report.
Security experts say China is a center for Internet crime. The latest attacks occurred between late July and September and used e-mails sent to companies to plant software dubbed “PoisonIvy” in their computers, Symantec said.
Symantec traced the attacks to a computer system owned by a Chinese man in his 20s in the central province of Hebei.
