Replies

“Foreign hackers seek to steal Americans’ health records”

By Nancy Ferris
Published on January 17, 2008

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Foreign hackers, primarily from Russia and China, are increasingly seeking to steal Americans’ health care records, according to a Department of Homeland Security analyst.

Mark Walker, who works in DHS’ Critical Infrastructure Protection Division, told a workshop audience at the National Institute of Standards and Technology that the hackers’ primary motive seems to be espionage.

“They’ve been focused on the [Department of Defense] – the military – but now are spreading out into the health care private sector,” Walker said.

Early in 2007, a virus was placed on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, he said, and in April a Military Health System server holding Tricare records was hacked.

Walker said the hackers are seeking to exfiltrate health care data. “We don’t know why,” he added. “We want to know why.” At the same time, he said, it’s clear that “medical information can be used against us from a national security standpoint.””

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=china

UPDATE:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080221/NATION/839822760/1002

“3Com nixes deal with Chinese”
By S.A. Miller
February 21, 2008

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The companies in the $2.2 billion deal — Chinese telecom Huawei Technologies, 3Com and the global investment firm Bain Capital Partners — struggled to no avail since September to win merger approval from the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

The national security threat, first reported last year by The Washington Times, involved potential Chinese government access to U.S. defense secrets, including 3Com’s TippingPoint division that makes high-technology safeguards against computer hackers. Huawei in the past has been accused of economic espionage and violating U.N. sanctions.”