Chinese Hackers Hit Commerce Department

Information Week ^ | October 6, 2006 02:03PM | Gregg Keizer

[rsmoot]

The federal governments Commerce Department admitted Friday that heavy attacks on its computers by hackers working through Chinease servers have forced the bureau responsible for granting export licenses to lock down Internet access for more than a month.

Hundreds of computers must be replaced to cleanse the agency of malicious code including rootkits and spyware.

[rsmoot]

Read the whole article. It goes on to say that this is probably Chinease State Sponsored Hacking and that we appear to be loosing this round of Cyberwarfare.

[FairOpinion]

I think the Chinese and the terrorists are putting considerable effort into this.

This article is from 2002 and cites specific instances of attacks, not just plans:


Cyber-Attacks by Al Qaeda Feared

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50765-2002Jun26


Late last fall, Detective Chris Hsiung of the Mountain View, Calif., police department began investigating a suspicious pattern of surveillance against Silicon Valley computers. From the Middle East and South Asia, unknown browsers were exploring the digital systems used to manage Bay Area utilities and government offices. Hsiung, a specialist in high-technology crime, alerted the FBI's San Francisco computer intrusion squad.

Working with experts at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the FBI traced trails of a broader reconnaissance. A forensic summary of the investigation, prepared in the Defense Department, said the bureau found "multiple casings of sites" nationwide. Routed through telecommunications switches in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Pakistan, the visitors studied emergency telephone systems, electrical generation and transmission, water storage and distribution, nuclear power plants and gas facilities.

[kinoxi]

This used to be IBM.

[thoughtomator]

Based on the philosophy under which the members of the 9/11 Commission were appointed, I hereby nominate Johnny Chung as a special investigator of this troubling situation.

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[FairOpinion]

"It's the second major attack originating from China that's been acknowledged by the federal government since July. "

Hmmm..

[oceanview]

was that an intrusion - or just information available on the sites that they were looking at?

[FairOpinion]

That was intrusion. THey don't have that kind of info on the internet pages.

[Joe Boucher]

The chi-coms control their internet down to the last inquirey and e-mail.
Anyone who thinks this is not state sponsered is a fool.

[wodinoneeye]

What I'd like to know is WHY the US government is using products by the Master Of Shoddy which have proven to be open to attacks for a decade. I'm not a Unix whore, but I think that if years ago the Government had gone at Bill Gates and said that they wouldn't buy his product (millions of copies and untold amounts of $$$$$) UNTIL it passed very stringent security tests. With that kind of incentive MicroSoft WOULD have done alot more to make their OpSys alot more secure -- and We would have had it already and wouldn't be facing the daily threats and have it an avenue for serious terrorist/enemy attacks.

[Digger]

How about closing te Commerce Dept along with te Education Dept., start cutting gov by 5% every yr for 5 yrs & I'll bet we get more efficency & less hacking.