MANILA, Philippines – Internet security company Kaspersky has released the first portion of a two-part report describing a detailed campaign, named “Rocra” or “Red October,” against governments and diplomatic agencies over the last five years.

In Kaspersky’s blog post announcing the report, the security firm noted that “a high-level cyber-espionage campaign has successfully infiltrated computer networks at diplomatic, governmental and scientific research organizations, gathering data and intelligence from mobile devices, computer systems and network equipment.”

Kaspersky’s complete world map, pictured below, notes how the attackers aimed for different sectors in various countries across the world. The attackers spent five years unnoticed, before a security firm found out, analyzed, and realized the extent of their operations.

The attackers controlled a network of infected machines, timing their attempts to extract data and storing all that data for later use on multiple hosting locations in different countries.

Kaspersky also notes how the attackers may not come from a specific location. Instead, Kaspersky mentions two important points: that the exploits appear to have been created by Chinese hackers, and the Rocra malware modules were made by Russian-speaking operatives. – Rappler.com

The Complete World Threat Map for Red October