Quote:A global hacking operation is targeting government departments, defence, telecoms and other high-tech organisations around the world in what appears to be the first stage of a cyber espionage campaign.

Dubbed Operation Sharpshooter by researchers at McAfee, the new campaign has only been active for a matter of weeks, but hit 87 organisations in 24 countries during October and November alone, with the aim of the operation seemingly being intelligence gathering.

While organisations across the globe have been targeted by the campaign, analysis by McAfee suggests that victims are predominantly in the US.

Organisations in South America, Europe, the Middle East, India, Australia and Japan, among others have also fallen victim to the campaign -- in most cases they're English-speaking or have an English-speaking regional office.

The main focus of the attackers appears to be defence and government departments but businesses in the telecommunications, energy, nuclear and financial sectors have also been targeted in the espionage campaign.