The report, released last week by Virginia-based Mandiant, linked the hacking of 141 entities - including four law firms - to a Chinese military unit based in Shanghai.

Ideal targets

The law firms involved were not named, but Mandiant general counsel Shane McGee told The Asian Lawyer that law firms make ideal targets for hackers due to the variety of information they hold on clients.
Mr McGee said that law firms are seen as a ‘one-stop shop’ for hackers, who can find information linked to thousands of companies by breaching one law firm’s network.
The allegations have been dismissed by the Chinese Government, which claims that it has itself been targeted by hackers apparently based in the United States.

Sophisticated attacks

Mandiant has accepted that it does not have absolute proof, but claims that the scale and sophistication of the attacks suggest a state actor and that circumstantial evidence overwhelmingly points to Unit 61398 of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.