Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's drive to deliver "consequences"
to bad actors in cyberspace, it's worth noting that the problem of
cyber attacks either promulgated or supported by the Chinese
government is far from new.
In a previous life, your Cable guy broke a story that revealed senior
military officials believe the Chinese government is supporting
hackers that attack "anything and everything" in the U.S. national
security infrastructure on a constant basis. And while it's difficult
to prove guilt, the scale, organization, and intent of the attacks
leads experts and officials alike to one sponsor: the Chinese
government.
The Defense Department has said that the Chinese government, in
addition to employing thousands of its own hackers, manages massive
teams of experts from academia and industry in "cyber militias" that
act in Chinese national interests with unclear amounts of support and
direction from China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).
According to SANS Institute research director Alan Paller, "The
problem is 1,000 times worse than what we see." But the tip of the
iceberg is still large. Here are some of the most damaging attacks on
the U.S. government that have been attributed to Chinese government
sponsorship or endorsement over the past few years:
1) Titan Rain
In 2004, an analyst named Shawn Carpenter at Sandia National
Laboratories traced the origins of a massive cyber espionage ring back
to a team of government sponsored researchers in Guangdong Province in
China. The hackers, code named by the FBI "Titan Rain," stole massive
amounts of information from military labs, NASA, the World Bank, and
others. Rather than being rewarded, Carpenter was fired and
investigated after revealing his findings to the FBI, because hacking
foreign computers is illegal under U.S. law. He later sued and was
awarded more than $3 million. The FBI renamed Titan Rain and
classified the new name. The group is still assumed to be operating.
2) State Department's East Asia Bureau
In July 2006, the State Department admitted it had become a victim of
cyber hacking after an official in "East Asia" accidentally opened an
email he shouldn't have. The attackers worked their way around the
system, breaking into computers at U.S. embassies all over the region
and then eventually penetrating systems in Washington as well.
3) Offices of Rep. Frank Wolf
Wolf has been one of the most outspoken lawmakers on Chinese human
rights issues, so it was of little surprise when he announced that in
August 2006 that his office computers had been compromised and that he
suspected the Chinese government. Wolf also reported that similar
attacks had compromised the systems of several other congressmen and
the office of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
4) Commerce Department
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security had to throw
away all of its computers in October 2006, paralyzing the bureau for
more than a month due to targeted attacks originating from China. BIS
is where export licenses for technology items to countries like China
are issued.
5) Naval War College
In December 2006, the Naval War College in Rhode Island had to take
all of its computer systems offline for weeks following a major cyber
attack. One professor at the school told his students that the Chinese
had brought down the system. The Naval War College is where much
military strategy against China is developed.
6) Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and the 2003 blackout?
A National Journal article revealed that spying software meant to
clandestinely steal personal data was found on the devices of then
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and several other officials
following a trade mission to China in December 2007. That same article
reported that intelligence officials traced the causes of the massive
2003 northeast blackout back to the PLA, but some analysts question
the connection.
7) McCain and Obama presidential campaigns
That's right, both the campaigns of then Senators Barack Obama and
John McCain were completely invaded by cyber spies in August 2008. The
Secret Service forced all campaign senior staff to replace their
Blackberries and laptops. The hackers were looking for policy data as
a way to predict the positions of the future winner. Senior campaign
staffers have acknowledged that the Chinese government contacted one
campaign and referred to information that could only have been gained
from the theft.
8) Office of Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL
At a March 2009 hearing, Nelson revealed that his office computers had
been hacked three separate times and his aide confirmed that the
attacks had been traced back to China. The targets of the attacks were
Nelson's foreign-policy aide, his legislative director, and a former
NASA advisor.
9) Ghostnet
In March, 2009, researchers inToronto concluded a 10-month
investigation that revealed a massive cyber espionage ring they called
Ghostnet that had penetrated more than 1,200 systems in 103 countries.
The victims were foreign embassies, NGOs, news media institutions,
foreign affairs ministries, and international organizations. Almost
all Tibet-related organizations had been compromised, including the
offices of the Dalai Lama. The attacks used Chinese malware and came
from Beijing.
10) Lockheed Martin's F-35 program
In April, 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that China was
suspected of being behind a major theft of data from Lockheed Martin's
F-35 fighter program, the most advanced airplane ever designed.
Multiple infiltrations of the F-35 program apparently went on for
years.
EXPLORE:
EAST ASIA
,
CHINA
,
INTERNET
,
U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
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MONEYINABOX
3:12 AM ET
January 23, 2010
Precedent has been set
Until the United States, along with other victims of Chinese
cyber-aggression, come out publicly and LOUDLY complain about such
practices while backing it up with actions that punish this behavior,
the PRC will happily continue to use this tactic with abandon for
political, economic, and military gains.
MYSTIKIEL
8:59 AM ET
January 23, 2010
Why is it called "data theft" when China does this
and only espionage when western countries do the same thing?
MR.GERRY D
10:09 PM ET
January 23, 2010
This whole cyber attack does not in any way surprise me.
I use a simple hardware firewall, which generates a log of attacks
(Land Attacks, Port Scans etc...) I have found rather regular port
scans originating in/from China. The interesting thing is, when I
report these attacks to the F.B.I. I get NO RESPONSE...
The real issue is not the non-response or the port scans, but the fact
that the "hackers" can acquire valid I.P.s. and completely bypass the
computer they scan. I am not a computer programmer, security person,
but I do understand enough about computer systems, networks, I-net
etc...to see the way these things can be done. In other words, give a
proficient hacker the I.P. and there would be virtually no
protection...and WE ALL HAVE AN I.P. address.
As per complaining about or to the Chinese ...FORGET IT...these people
live in an entirely different reality...and couldn't care less about
what WE AS AMERICANS say, or for that matter what anyone in the world
would say.
The comments regarding H.Clinton's comments about these attack on
GOOGLE, are typical...to paraphrase""...it will cause problems with
Chinese,American relations..." Give me a break...What are we to
do...bend over for these criminals?...
There is NO point in ever confronting them. Try to find a way to only
activate the connect at the server level, do not leave the connection
active as D.S.L systems (24-7)...I see this as the only potential way
to preventing access to individual or network computers.
Enough said.
GRANT
4:55 AM ET
January 24, 2010
The problem is that
The problem is that cyberattacks are hard to classify in terms of a
'justified response'. Military skirmishes, missile launches, political
statements, territorial invasions, aid, we've gotten a kind of
understanding across the world about how to handle those incidents.
Computers on the other hand, are a difficult question. Is hacking a
military network worth a protest from an ambassador? Is it worth
risking agreements on how to deal with a regional security crisis?
Historically, of course, our descendants will be able to look back and
say "Those idiots. If they had known to be firmer with China/more open
with China..." but here and now we really don't have that kind of
information. I also note that we have no idea what kind of successes
or failures the U.S military and intelligence services may have had in
hacking Chinese computers, so we can't say for sure who's better right
now.
SUERLEMIEUX
2:27 PM ET
January 24, 2010
Safety of users data
This attack could reasonably bring up several questions, therefore
Google may wanted to take this chance to discuss a few extra
information on the data defending and assure we the end users that
they will introducing extra security actions to assist make sure the
safety of their clients' data.
pc to tv converter
STIENNON
2:52 PM ET
January 24, 2010
You left out the Pentagon attacks.
The successful attack against the US Pentagon email servers is the
most egregious cyber attack from China recorded to date. From a
DarkReading article at the time:
According to a report in today's Financial Times, Pentagon officials
are now acknowledging that the People's Liberation Army launched "the
most successful cyber attack ever" on U.S. defense systems less than
two months ago.
That was from September 2007.
http://www.darkreading.com/security/perimeter/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208803659
FORTUNEHUNTER
3:54 PM ET
January 25, 2010
cyber attacks
Carpenter's experience only proves that everything is upside down.
Here is a patriotic AMERICAN who reports that the attack came from
china, so he gets fired and investigated. Who says the inmates are NOT
running the asylum.
FORTUNEHUNTER
3:54 PM ET
January 25, 2010
cyber attacks
Carpenter's experience only proves that everything is upside down.
Here is a patriotic AMERICAN who reports that the attack came from
china, so he gets fired and investigated. Who says the inmates are NOT
running the asylum.
FORTUNEHUNTER
4:14 PM ET
January 25, 2010
CYBer attacks
I SENT SOMETHING EARLIER. WAS NOT WORKING.
GYMJONES
4:41 PM ET
January 25, 2010
Why shouldn't it count as an act of war?
We should call the bluff. They need us more than we need them.
TAXED_OUT
10:32 PM ET
January 27, 2010
They need us more...?
Um, don't we owe them, like, TRILLIONS of dollars? To paraphrase an
old comic, "This is another fine mess we've gotten ourselves into."
Otherwise, I would say it's time to STOP doing business with China -
imports and exports - period.
MARTIN.GOODMAN
8:24 PM ET
January 25, 2010
China
The Chinese have very impressive technology that allows them to
intercept emails, prevent you from reading blogs and facebook and they
can even place a virus on your computer. How do I know this? It
happened to me during my visit in September '09. In fact, my
anti-virus software still blocks it from rearing its ugly head. This
is the only virus my computer has ever received. Don't be fooled into
thinking America is the only country with great technology, if
anything we are far behind.
RICKSHAW ESQUIRE
1:21 AM ET
January 26, 2010
Seriously?
"One professor at the school told his students that the Chinese had
brought down the system."
"he announced that in August 2006 that his office computers had been
compromised and that he suspected the Chinese government."
This counts in your top 10 list? The threat is big enough without you
having to exaggerate it.
Josh Rogin reports on national security and foreign policy from the
Pentagon to Foggy Bottom, the White House to Embassy Row, for The
Cable.
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