Chinese hackers targeting U.S. infrastructure

This "spear phishing" email was received by one infrastructure security firm. It appears to come from the firm's CEO, but is actually from an attacker trying to trick recipients into clicking on a malicious link.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Tuesday's report detailing hacking activities by the Chinese government against U.S. targets all but confirmed what everyone suspected: the Chinese, along with other nations and groups, are gathering information that could disrupt the operation of critical infrastructure in this country, including power plants, chemical factories and air-traffic control systems.

To be clear, the report from U.S.-based cybersecurity firm Mandiant did not say the Chinese government has actively tampered with these systems. The only two countries thought to have actually altered industrial processes in another country are the United States and Israel, which are suspected of infecting an Iranian uranium enrichment plantwith malicious software that caused the centrifuges to spin out of control and self-destruct.