Online security experts say a series of big league hackings previously attributed to the Chinese government might actually have been the work of a small group of hackers for hire.

The researchers at Kaspersky Labs say the group is linked to China and is comprised of about six to 12 hackers who may be working as so-called “digital mercenaries” and carrying out specific orders for clients.  The hackers appear to target company plans, address books, account passwords and other materials, indicating they’re looking for these things on behalf of clients instead of merely jacking bank accounts for quick profits.

“We see the diversity of their interests, and we think that the way they operate suggests that they don’t have any specific interest in any particular field,” said Kaspersky Labs cyber security researcher Vitaly Kamlyuk.  “They are just hunting for specific documents that they were probably asked for. Perhaps they have an order and they just follow particular instructions.”

Targets have included Japanese Parliamentarians and South Korea tech corporations.  The hackers use malicious softwear that Kaspersky called “Icefog” to hack into targets, and it contains Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages.  That leads the researchers to believe that the hackers have a presence in all three countries.