First Google, and now Intel. The chipmaker has revealed that its servers were hacked in January, around the same time search giant Google and 24 other companies reported a highly sophisticated security breach. And Intel says such attempts happen regularly.
News of the Intel breach was contained in the company’s most recent financial filing, for the 2009 fiscal year, with the Securities and Exchange Commission and gave few details. Listed under the heading “risk factors,” the disclosure was an unusual way of announcing a potential setback, a move that seems intended to protect the company from legal liability to investors in light of new disclosure regulations.
“We may be subject to intellectual-property theft or misuse, which could result in third-party claims and harm our business and results of operations,” Intel said in its disclosure to the SEC. “We regularly face attempts by others to gain unauthorized access through the Internet to our information-technology systems by, for example, masquerading as authorized users or surreptitious introduction of software.”
The company described these attacks as possible attempts at industrial espionage or the work of malicious hackers.
“One recent and sophisticated incident occurred in January 2010 around the same time as the recently publicized security incident reported by Google,” the company said. “We seek to detect and investigate these security incidents and to prevent their recurrence, but in some cases we might be unaware of an incident or its magnitude and effects.”
Such attacks could “adversely affect our competitive position and reduce marketplace acceptance of our products,” Intel warned, as well as cause product recalls, reputation harm and lawsuits.
Alan Paller, director of research at the Sans Institute, a security training school in Bethesda, Md., said large U.S. corporations are increasingly under attack from Chinese competitors or their operatives.
“Intel is one of about 1,000 U.S. organizations that do…