The FBI is investigating possible Chinese military involvement in a cyber hack at Register.com, which manages more than 1.4m website addresses for businesses around the world.
Hackers, who appear to have stolen network and employee passwords, have been in and out of Register’s network for about a year, according to people familiar with the probe. But the breach, which the company reported to the FBI but not to customers or investors, is not known to have caused disruptions or resulted in any theft of client data.
That has bolstered investigators’ belief that the hackers are state-sponsored rather than criminals intent on making money from credit card data or social security information. Although the investigative trail has pointed to Chinese military involvement, it is unclear what China would hope to accomplish by such an attack. Some current and former law enforcement officials said the hack could be aimed at obtaining the ability to undermine large parts of internet infrastructure.