A FireEye analysis has found that the volume of cyber attacks by China-based hacking groups on government and commercial networks in the U.S. and 25 other target countries has declined since mid-2014.
FireEye said in its “Redline Drawn: China Recalculates Its Use of Cyber Espionage” report the decline coincided with China’s efforts to centralize domestic cyber operations, the public exposure of Chinese involvement in espionage activities and U.S.’ punitive measures against hackers.
The security firm examined the activity of 72 groups the company believes operate in China or support Chinese state interests and found that 13 active China-linked hacking groups launched multiple attacks to compromise networks run by corporations based in the U.S., Europe and Japan as well as targeted public and private organizations in Asia from September 2015 and June 2016.
China and the U.S. reached an agreement on Sept. 25 last year not to “conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property†to gain economic advantage, FireEye noted.
The federal government also launched efforts in 2014 to implement measures in response to suspected online economic espionage operations by Beijing against U.S. corporations, according to the report.