Posted on 05/08/2008 5:52:59 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
The Indian media are reporting sustained internet-based attacks from China against Indian networks. These attacks, they say, are not just isolated incidents and are sophisticated and broad in scope. Government officials have confirmed off the record that the cyber warfare threat from China is much more serious than attacks carried out from other countries.
They believe the Chinese attackers have been scanning and mapping India's networks for around one and a half years. They are primarily using bots – approximately 50,000 of which are currently installed on Indian systems, key loggers and network topology mapping, which allows information to be gathered on how the Indian networks could be disabled, or at least degraded, in the event of a crisis. Large-scale attacks are said to have been directed against the National Infomatics Centre (NIC), and other government networks been targeted, but not disabled.
India is now making its first serious efforts to set up a defence system, although electronic warfare has yet to become a major component of India's security strategy. Dedicated but short-funded teams of specialists are currently working to deflect the daily attacks. The real weakness is that they have not yet developed a system for carrying out retaliatory strikes. It would not be difficult to develop such a system, however, as Chinese networks are porous and India is an IT giant.
A Chinese embassy official disputed these allegations, saying that the claims of Chinese government complicity with the attacks are untenable and without foundation. "The Chinese government has nothing to do with it. The Chinese government discourages such activities against all countries, including India. These reports … are not compatible with the developing trust and friendship between India and China. 'Hacking' is a worldwide phenomenon. The Chinese networks have also been victims of hacking."
| Belgium Names China in Hacking Incidents |
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| Whether hackers breached government network not known |
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Over the last few weeks, hackers have repeatedly attempted to break inside the computer network of the Belgium Federal Government as well as other organizations located in Belgium.
On Friday, May 2, Jo Vandeurzen, the Belgian minister of justice, announced that his government believes the attacks were conducted from China, most likely at the request of Beijing. He admitted that he could not provide irrefutable evidence.
"The context of this affair and all the clues lead to China," Vandeurzen said. The Belgian Minister added that it was not known whether the hackers had succeeded in their attempt to hack the Belgian government network.
Although it is also unclear why Beijing would target the Belgium network, Vandeurzen suggested that China's interest likely results from the presence in the country of most of the European Union institutions as well as the Headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Vandeurzen also suggested that the role played by Belgium in Central Africa might be relevant to this affair.
"There is an ongoing investigation, but I can tell you that we have more than mere suspicions," a spokesperson of the Foreign Affairs Ministry said.
The Surete de l' Etat, a Belgian Intelligence Agency equivalent to Britain's MI5, has confirmed a "clear and real threat" to the security of the state.
Karel De Gucht, the controversial Belgian minister of foreign affairs, had already told parliament that his ministry was the object of cyber-spying conducted by Chinese agents several weeks ago.
It is not clear at the moment why Belgian officials have decided to go public with these allegations. In the past, the Belgian government reacted with great discretion to this kind of affair.
In 2005, a Chinese defector revealed the magnitude of the Chinese spying effort against European governments and technology industry, alleging among other things that hundreds of students and scholars were involved in espionage in European countries.
"There is a large Chinese intelligence operation in northern Europe spanning communications, space, defense, chemicals and heavy industries," said Claude Monique, a Brussels-based intelligence analyst.
"The Chinese agent has given details of hundreds of experts and their activities. As a result national inquiries have been launched, certainly by the German, French, Netherlands and Belgian agencies and, I believe, in Britain too."
"The Chinese operate at many levels, from the pure intelligence agents based at embassies to researchers sent to Europe for training to individual citizens who work apparently independently for 5 or 10 years until they are in a position to prove their usefulness," an intelligence official said.
The phenomenon is by no mean limited to Europe. In the United States, the FBI has estimated that spying activity against technology companies conducted by Chinese agents is increasing at the annual rate of 20 to 30 percent. In the Los Angeles area, it is not entirely clear whether the FBI is infiltrating the Chinese Mafia, or if the opposite is taking place.
"I think you see it where something that would normally take 10 years to develop takes them two or three," said David Szady, the chief of FBI counterintelligence operations in 2005.
"What they are looking for are the systems or materials or the designs or the batteries or the air-conditioning or the things that make that thing tick," Szady said. "That's what they are very good at collecting, going after both the private sector, the industrial complexes, as well as the colleges and universities in collecting scientific developments that they need," Szady added.
Many experts believe that it is thanks to industrial espionage that Chinese scientists have managed to match the US, Japan and Europe technology in various areas such as supercomputing, communications, space and nano technologies.
Some military advances seem suspicious too, such as a new cruise missile extremely similar to the US Tomahawk or a sea-borne defense system that looks like the twin of the Aegis.
In their 2007 report to Congress, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) stated that "Chinese espionage activities in the United States are so extensive that they comprise the single greatest risk to the security of American technologies."
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=434212
Now that's funny!
I believe the Chinese government has declared a “cyber-cold war” against her strongest competitors; India & the USA. I’m not aware of any “Geneva Convention” governing cyber warfare. Probably needs to be one, but it will be hard to enforce (how do you get computer systems to wear uniforms?)
My fear is, what software is being loaded into all those Hewlett Packard and other systems that are manufactured in China and shipped to the US? In the rush to get these systems in the hands of consumers, there is no way the chipsets and hard drives on these systems are being checked in any way.
China could soon, if not already have, a world-wide bot army numbering in millions of computers.
China’s Cybersnoops Scour the World
| 02 May 2008 | |
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Beijing’s intrusions into government computers across the planet — most recently in India — are illegal and outrageous
The Indian incursion is being treated as the Internet equivalent of a terrorist attack on a national institution, threatening the security of India’s diplomatic and military communications. Although Chinese embassy officials in Delhi reacted angrily to news of the event as an “irresponsible fabrication,” the incident fits an emerging pattern of planned Chinese penetration of government websites and subsequent denial of responsibility. In May 2007, for instance, it came to light that the Chinese had hacked into the computers of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office and three of her ministries. In June came the announcement by US officials that they had hacked into Gates’ email system. In September the British government disclosed that a hacking unit traceable to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army had hit the networks of the Foreign Office and other key departments in London. Although Beijing has vehemently objected to each of the allegations as malicious propaganda, the scale and nature of data stolen in these operations leaves little doubt about Chinese state involvement. The argument that the hackers, whose IP addresses go back to mainland China, are loose cannons working on their own simply to demonstrate their destructive technical skills does not square with the reality that Beijing has never prosecuted any of this burgeoning tribe. It is ironic that in a so-called communist country where unionizing is banned for the working class, there exist hackers’ “unions” and “Red alliances” that pool Chinese software programmers willing to work for so-called patriotic causes. From 1998 to 2002, “Red hackers” broke into thousands of websites and paralyzed computer systems in the US, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan. The Honker Union, based in mainland China, attained legendary status as a national asset during the 2001 spy plane standoff with the US. Its members went on a hacking spree and defaced the home pages of several American government websites and were answered through a tit-for-tat by American hacking professionals. Following that high-profile cyber battle, the Honker Union mobilized anti-Japanese protests and petitions online in 2003. In 2005, hacking squads attacked dozens of public and private websites in Japan in what the Washington Post described as “the heaviest assault ever perpetrated on the nation's computer systems from overseas.” Domestic public opinion about the Honkers was overwhelmingly positive and even led to the coronation of celebrity hackers who gave interviews to media outlets and flaunted their exploits. Instead of arresting the cyber criminals who are in contravention of the norms of international diplomacy, both Chinese society and state have hailed them as national heroes. Chinese Public Relations scholar Xu Wu has written that hacking for the sake of the motherland is a “natural extension from China’s century-long nationalist movement.” State-run research institutes and media houses glorify them as implementers of the Maoist doctrine of “harming if you do harm to me.” In such a permissive environment hacking has become a growth industry. The free rein afforded to hackers contrasts sharply with the tight control the state attempts to exercise on Internet search engines and politically objectionable websites. Authoritarian China fears technologies that allow its citizens access to subversive information on democracy, human rights, religious freedoms and self-determination struggles, such as Tibet and Xinjiang. The agreement in 2004 between the Chinese government and Google to omit contentious news stories from search results in China illustrates the determination with which Beijing polices cyberspace. In March, as the Tibetan tumult cascaded, China swiftly blocked Google News and YouTube for a week in an attempt at damage control. Internet censorship by the Chinese government on the issues of Tibet or the Falun Gong spiritual movement is the obverse of the long rope given to hackers to incite anti-Japanese riots or to steal state secrets from targeted countries. This contradictory situation suggests that New Economy-enabling technology is a double-edged sword for China’s regime. If the Internet can be China’s best friend as well as its worst enemy, crafty state management of it becomes an imperative. Beijing’s policy is to continue developing its cyberwar abilities as part of its military modernization drive while acting as a vigilant gatekeeper against websites that can fuel dissent and unrest among its people. Legal experts say that effectively outlawing cyber crime is difficult due to the nature of the Internet. Even if there were an international convention regulating cyberspace, norm-offending states like China cannot be expected to adhere to rules of the book. The only option for victim states like India is to publicize each incident of Chinese hacking into its domains and to raise international attention of this patently aggressive behavior. The more China’s hacking strategy is exposed before the world, the greater will be the urgency to improve internet network security. India’s global leadership in software programming gives it a distinct advantage in developing foolproof defenses against infiltration by Chinese hackers. As to the counteroffensive option, Indian hackers are known to have waged mini-cyber wars against Pakistani websites in the past. They will need to organise better against the much more formidable challenge posed by the Chinese. Sreeram Chaulia is a researcher on international affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship in Syracuse, New York. |
Nice. Give ‘em the 1-800 number for Dell and let them experience first-hand a true clusterf__k.
1 billion Indians cut off from their porn. The mind boggles at the consequences. Not a pretty scenerio
The most favored nation China is working to steal everything they can. The rope to hang us has been sold.
We must close the bot gap... Microsoft should just preinstall bots on the OS - ohh wait they do that already.
but seroiusly folks - China wants to be the dominant power in it’s world, just like in the good old imperial days.
This morning when I went to turn on the computer I found several grains of rice on the desk next to the machine.
I am very concerned.
Concurring-bump BTTT.
I wonder why you’re not concerned, prolific Newbie.
Besides, as you said, I'm a “newbie” so according to the likes of you I should just stay quiet while in the presence of of all the awesome veterans here.
Right?
Your post makes light of the threat. It may not have been your intent, I dunno. It is a serious threat. I tend not to make light of terrorist threats of other kinds as well.
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While world publicity has mainly focused on the intrusion of the Chinese into the email system of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates last year, the fact is that Chinese hackers have been crawling all over the