National
The weak link in your supply chain
By David Stafford-Gaffney
24 | Asia Pacific Security Magazine
A successful business usually has unique elements that differentiate them from their competitors. It could be they have a unique product formula, or perhaps they have a unique way of servicing an untapped market. Most of these modern products or services are accompanied by marketing collateral, often describing their wares as Impressive, Powerful, and Advanced. Behind these businesses are founders with unique attributes that set them apart from the rest. They believed in something so much they were unfaltering in their conviction to be successful. The motivation to achieve their goals was so focused that they ultimately succeeded. The kinds of words people use to describe these entrepreneurs are Passionate, Driven, and Persistent. Every successful business understands the value of knowledge and the SWOT model used to describe positive and negative, internal and external impacts on the business is cognizant of that value. Each and every business owner at some point has assessed their company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Unfortunately, though for most businesses, they don’t always look at all the threats their organisations might
face. Well, not the way cybersecurity people do, and that’s where this story leaves the comfort of uplifting motivation, glorification of hard work and tenacity, heading south to the land of cyberattacks, cybercrime and online extortion. Advanced Persistent Threat’s (APT’s) are among the most motivated and capable criminal groups around. They’re often supported by their governments, typically have organisational structures in place and are well funded. They’re motivations range from espionage, financial gain and political disruption and influence. APT’s are often given names and numbers, typically because there is a wealth of information about them and there are that many of them that researchers need to be able to differentiate them. APT10 is one that has made recent headlines. They follow the same principles as above, their people are passionate and driven, immensely focused and conduct sustained campaigns with razor sharp precision, and a ruthlessness for attaining their own objectives. Their differentiator however is they like to use your suppliers to gain access to your networks and information. Specifically, they seek to gain economic advantage for China through the exploitation of stolen Intellectual Property. The same property,