Posted on 10/01/2012 8:30:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Bill Gertz has the grim news in the Washington Free Beacon:
Hackers linked to China's government broke into one of the U.S. government's most sensitive computer networks, breaching a system used by the White House Military Office for nuclear commands, according to defense and intelligence officials familiar with the incident.
One official said the cyber breach was one of Beijing's most brazen cyber attacks against the United States and highlights a failure of the Obama administration to press China on its persistent cyber attacks.
Disclosure of the cyber attack also comes amid heightened tensions in Asia, as the Pentagon moved two U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups and Marine amphibious units near waters by Japan's Senkaku islands.
China and Japan-the United States' closest ally in Asia and a defense treaty partner-are locked in a heated maritime dispute over the Senkakus, which China claims as its territory.
U.S. officials familiar with reports of the White House hacking incident said it took place earlier this month and involved unidentified hackers, believed to have used computer servers in China, who accessed the computer network used by the White House Military Office (WHMO), the president's military office in charge of some of the government's most sensitive communications, including strategic nuclear commands. The office also arranges presidential communications and travel, and inter-government teleconferences involving senior policy and intelligence officials.
An Obama administration national security official said: "This was a spear phishing attack against an unclassified network."
Spear phishing is a cyber attack that uses disguised emails that seek to convince recipients of a specific organization to provide confidential information. Spear phishing in the past has been linked to China and other states with sophisticated cyber warfare capabilities. The official described the type of attack as "not infrequent" and said there were unspecified "mitigation measures in place."
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
” Media says yawn. because they are a apart of it.
Mods ? please move this news story to top breaking news, this news has to get out.
It matches the Libyan Ambassador attack strategy. IMHO, nothing indicates Obama/Hillary didn’t plan the entire event, to justify the UN agenda several days later, by throwing their own Ambassador under the bus, then claiming they were acting reasonably and responsibly.
(Whenever we hear about a world shaking violent event involving about 100 personnel, it strikes me of a preplanned black op, which will have several layers of cover story as a diversion of the intended targeted objective.)
Same tactics used by Hillary over the past 40 years.
(Of course if the Chinese didn’t hack it, but a third party did hack it, the Chinese would know far more about us than we would. Then again, if Obama/Hillary are looking for an excuse to use larger weapons, it might be stage setting for plausible deniablity from the viewpoint of the Chinese.)
I’ve still been wondering why Hillary visited the Cook Islands and Vladivostok during the DNC.
Of course it matters whether there is classified information on an unclassified network.
If there is, then someone screwed up, or did a willful act of espionage.
An unclassified network does have the “gate” open to the outside world, that’s how business is done today.
But to imply, as this blog post does, that nuclear command and control is done on the very same network that is used for email and routine administrative functions is just ludicrous, no matter how many unnamed sources the author cites.
There’s a big, big difference between the “White House Military Office” and a branch of the DOD such as the US Strategic Command (formerly the Strategic Air Command). The office that was hacked is responsible for “military support for White House functions, including food service, Presidential transportation, medical support and emergency medical services, and hospitality services” (quote from Wikipedia).
These are NOT the people who are responsible for the nuclear football, or any aspect of nuclear command and control, and the blog author is irresponsible and factually incorrect to state otherwise.
Minor correction to my last statement. It should read:
“These are NOT the people who are responsible for the nuclear football, or any aspect of nuclear command and control, and the blog author is irresponsible and factually incorrect to say this.”
What does that link have to do with the topic at hand?
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