[column] For four years, a sophisticated group of Chinese cyberspies has cut a digital swath through the health-care industry, stealing everything from trade secrets to trial data, say security firms probing the campaign.

The group infiltrated one U.S. drugmaker by hacking into a company it was about to acquire, said a security consultant who asked not to be identified because of a confidentiality agreement. In other cases, the hackers accessed pharmaceutical labs through their connections with university researchers, scooping up trial data and other trade secrets, said Aaron Shelmire, a threat researcher for Dell SecureWorks.[/column]

[column] A newly reported theft of personal data from 4.5 million patients served by Community Health Systems Inc., the second biggest U.S. for-profit hospital chain, may be the first time the Chinese group has targeted consumer data, terrain usually left to cybercriminals in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, say security experts after the break-in. Read more[/column]