Marriott hack — was it China?

Reuters reports that the Marriott hotel group “said last week that a hack that began four years ago had exposed the records of up to 500 million customers in its Starwood hotels reservation system,” and that investigators “found hacking tools, techniques and procedures previously used in attacks attributed to Chinese hackers.”

• The evidence “suggests that Chinese hackers may have been behind a campaign designed to collect information for use in Beijing’s espionage efforts and not for financial gain,” according to Reuters.
• It might not be China: Sources for the article “cautioned it was possible somebody else was behind the hack because other parties had access to the same hacking tools, some of which have previously been posted online.”
• The Chinese Foreign Ministry released its boilerplate response to accusations of hacking: “China firmly opposes all forms of cyber attack and cracks down on them in accordance with law… If offered evidence, the relevant Chinese departments will carry out investigations according to law.”