Reuters
Date: Jun 21, 2015
By: Jeremy Wagstaff

Security researchers have many names for the hacking group that is one of the suspects for the

A sign marks the entrance to RSA’s facility in Bedford, Massachusetts, in this March 28, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/Files

cyberattack on the U.S. government’s Office of Personnel Management: PinkPanther, KungFu Kittens, Group 72 and, most famously, Deep Panda. But to Jared Myers and colleagues at cybersecurity company RSA, it is called Shell Crew, and Myers’ team is one of the few who has watched it mid-assault — and eventually repulsed it.

Myers’ account of a months-long battle with the group illustrates the challenges governments and companies face in defending against hackers that researchers believe are linked to the Chinese government – a charge Beijing denies.

“The Shell Crew is an extremely efficient and talented group,” Myers said in an interview.Shell Crew, or Deep Panda, are one of several hacking groups that Western cybersecurity companies have accused of hacking into U.S. and other countries’ networks and stealing government, defense and industrial documents.The attack on the OPM computers, revealed this month, compromised the data of 4 million current and former federal employees, raising U.S. suspicions that Chinese hackers were building huge databases that could be used to recruit spies.     [FULL  STORY]