'Terracotta' has reportedly been hacking into legitimate servers and selling them on to other cyber criminals. Photo: Reuters
Hackers in China have been taking control of website servers from small businesses with weak security protocols and using them to mask their attacks on bigger prizes like government data sites, according to security researchers.
RSA Research said that a virtual private network (VPN) platform in China, which it dubbed "Terracotta", has been hacking into servers used by legitimate businesses.