LOS ANGELES — In what security experts believe may be the largest coordinated attack ever launched, hackers have for at least five years infiltrated the computer networks of thousands of companies, organizations and governments, stealing reams of intellectual property, military information and state secrets.
The perpetrators probably belong to a government-sanctioned group from either Eastern Europe or East Asia, according to security analysts. The hackers not only broke into but remained embedded in the computer systems, quietly siphoning secret data for years.
Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research at Internet security firm McAfee Inc., wrote in a 14-page report released Wednesday that the theft of so much information “represents a massive economic threat.”
The attacks are part of what analysts see as a rapidly expanding international cyber threat that few companies or governments can adequately defend against, and which costs U.S. industries and taxpayers tens of billions of dollars every year in lost information, labor and legal fees. One research institute estimated that so far in 2011, companies have spent $96 billion on security breaches.
McAfee did not identify the perpetrators, but many analysts said China had frequently been associated with such cyberattacks, including one in 2009 that hit Google Inc.
Michelle Obama coming to Maine
PORTLAND — First lady Michelle Obama is coming to Maine.
The Democratic National Committee says the wife of President Obama will visit Maine in September for fundraising events. The events will benefit the Democratic National Committee and Obama’s presidential campaign.
The Portland Press Herald says Michelle Obama is expected to attend a luncheon on Sept. 30 at a private home in Cape Elizabeth followed by a reception at the Portland Ocean Gateway facility in Portland.
Six dozen charged in child pornography crackdown
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has charged 72 members of an online child pornography ring that encouraged its members to engage in pedophilic acts with children ages 12 and under and submit gruesome, violent material in order to build a massive private database of images and videos on the Internet.
The crackdown is the result of a joint effort by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security launched in December 2009 to target some 500 individuals on five continents and 13 countries for their participation in “Dreamboard,” an exclusive, members-only online bulletin board that was created to encourage the sharing of graphic images and videos.
Fifty-two of the 72 people charged have been arrested in the U.S. and abroad, and 13 have pleaded guilty and face 20 to 30 years in prison. Twenty remain at large and are known only by their online screen names.
3 NATO service members killed in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — Three members of the U.S.-led military coalition were killed Wednesday in Afghanistan, NATO said.
The coalition said two died in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan where foreign forces are trying to hold the ground they seized from Taliban insurgents in major offensives over the past year.
Another died in a noncombat-related incident in eastern Afghanistan, the volatile second front of the nearly decade-long war.
No other details were disclosed, pending notification of their relatives.
So far this year, 328 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan. Last year, 404 died in the first seven months of the year.