Friday, July 13, 2012
Malware Targeting AutoCAD Files Could Be Sign of Industrial Espionage
PCWorld: Malware written to steal design files made by architects and engineers indicates there's likely been an industrial cyber-espionage effort underway, says ESET, which discovered malware that steals AutoCAD-based files earlier this year.
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Unfortunately, this certainly does seem to be yet another case of industrial espionage originating from a Chinese source. China has definitely received a fair amount of attention for industrial espionage and cyber attacks in recent history. Between China's alleged cyber attacks on Google, Motorola, Boeing, DuPont, AMSC, and dozens of other US based companies as well as its alleged usage of stolen US defense contractor technology in the new J-20 stealth fighter, recent events do not paint a flattering picture of China's trade and business practices. The list goes on and on of both proven and alleged cases of the Chinese corporations or its government stealing intellectual property and information through various illegal means.
It is frustrating that these actions are allowed to continue relatively unhindered or without consequence and the digital theft of AutoCAD documents for a Chinese source is no exception.
This news of intellectual property theft is disheartening. Our world as an intellectual and creative entity must really be in steep decline if designs are being highjacked through computer software, especially software that is depended on by so many industries. But what this article instills in me, besides disappointment and pity for those desperate enough o steal some else's work, is the importance of skills like hand drafting, which totally eliminates the above mentioned problem. Like the transcendentalists said, with new technology comes the loss of a basic or intuitive skill. This property theft reaffirms the efforts of educators and skilled people everywhere teaching about skills that are done by hand, for there can be no hacker of a piece of vellum. Maybe the huge availability of technology, and for some the developed dependency, has become more of a pest not only because of malware and theft, but because the dependents can no longer operate without the infected technology.
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