A group of hackers from China would be responsible for a cyber attack on the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, reports the French business magazine Challenges on the basis of anonymous initiates.

Airbus announced on 30 January that it had become a victim of a cyber attack in which data was stolen. Exactly what the damage is, was still being investigated at the time. It would in any case be personal data of employees.

According to a source of Challenges, the Chinese hackers group APT10 is behind the hack The group is linked to a Chinese intelligence service. According to the Dutch intelligence service AIVD, the group is also behind hacks on Dutch companies.

APT10 is known for its economic espionage for China. The group would have carried out its attack on Airbus over a period of several weeks. According to Challenges, the hackers group first focused on the computer systems of an Airbus supplier, after which it was discovered in January that the aircraft builder himself had also become a victim.

“The pattern of the attack is very similar to that of APT10,” says a source against the business magazine. Whether China is actually behind the hacks is not fixed. Although clues can give an idea of ​​who might be behind an attack, hackers can also deliberately use certain tactics to put researchers on the wrong track.

The responsible hackers could, for example, use the captured personal data to carry out even more targeted attacks in the future.