Chinese military 'hacked into Pentagon'

[Starseeker]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/04/wchina204.xml

By Stephen Adams
Last Updated: 12:45pm BST 04/09/2007

The Chinese military shut down the Pentagon's computer network for more than a week during an unprecedented cyber attack, according to leaked reports of an internal investigation.
# Chinese weapons 'reach Taliban'

China has flatly denied the allegation, dismissing it as a product of "Cold War" thinking.
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However, American officials claim the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been implicated.

One US official told the Financial Times that an internal investigation had revealed the exact provenance of the attack in June this year, believed to be the most successful cyber attack ever carried out on the Pentagon.

The newspaper cited another source as saying there was a "very high level of confidence... trending towards total certainty" that the PLA was responsible.

Jiang Yu, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said: "The Chinese government has consistently opposed and vigorously attacked according to the law all Internet-wrecking crimes, including hacking.

"Some people are making wild accusations against China ... These are totally groundless and also reflect a Cold War mentality."

A few days before the Pentagon breach, Chinese hackers were accused of infiltrating German government computers.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, raised the issue with China's premier, Wen Jiabao, in a visit to Beijing and afterwards the Chinese Foreign ministry pledged to take "firm and effective action" to combat international computer hacking.

A story in the Der Spiegel newspaper claimed that the hackers had been traced to Guangzhou and Lanzhou, which are both centres of operation for the PLA.

Chinese hackers have also been implicated in cyber-espionage attempts against other governments, including that of Britain.

The PLA regularly scans US military networks and the Pentagon is widely assumed to probe Chinese networks, but US officials said the penetration in June heightened concerns because of fears China had demonstrated the ability to disrupt the network at critical times.

"The PLA has demonstrated the ability to conduct attacks that disable our system...and the ability in a conflict situation to re-enter and disrupt on a very large scale," said a former official, who said the PLA had also penetrated the networks of US defence companies and think-tanks.

Conspiracy theories? Of course, a cyber attack is right up to the PLA's alley, since it's cheap, and if you throw enough people at it, something is going to crack.

 

[SuAside]

not the first time this sort of stuff happens.

quite frankly, if i were chinese, i'd probably do the same stuff. (though perhaps a lil' better camouflaged & harder to trace?)

anyway, computer networks are a new battlefield. where once cloak & dagger spying operations were the high profile cases, now it is likely to shift to nerds hauled up in some badly lit room working his ass off and having incredible amounts of fun while 'sticking it to the enemy'.

 

[Neamos]

Yeah, not the first time. What odds me is that there's no comment from american officials/pentagon. Why's that? Embarrassment or they're just doing the same?

 

[Paladin Solo]

They're too busy watching Transformers so they can get some leads?

 

[welsh]

I would think an official comment from the US and the Pentagon would lead to greater public awareness and demands of retaliation against China.

The thing about democracies is that they are often slow to anger, but once pissed off they often become zealous in their demands for revenge.

Does the US really want greater tensions with China just because, perhaps, a few PLA hardliners want to play cold war games with the US.

And you are assuming that the US hasn't done the same to the PLA?

 

[the4thlaw]

What kind of information would the Chinese be able to pull of the pentagon network anyway?

you'd think really highly classified stuff wouldn't be accessible by anyone with a net connection, but then again maybe the pentagon is just run by dolts....

The best way to protect your information from being lifted from the net would be to not connect it to the net....

 

[Maphusio]

now it is likely to shift to nerds hauled up in some badly lit room working his ass off and having incredible amounts of fun while 'sticking it to the enemy'.

Now I'm reminded of Ryan Phillipe in 'Anti-Trust' stating, "In the real world, when you kill people, they die. For real!"

Those nerds must come to terms with the full implications of what they are doing! We must show them and the entire world the only way we know how! Anti-Trust marathon on TBS!!!! -A division of a media monopoly... Now how's that for irony! *gunshot*

 

[Starseeker]

More fun from China:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/sep/04/news.internet

Chinese hackers, some believed to be from the People's Liberation Army, have been attacking the computer networks of British government departments, the Guardian has learned.

The attackers have hit the network at the Foreign Office as well as those in other key departments, according to Whitehall officials.

The Ministry of Defence declined yesterday to say whether it had been hit. An incident last year that shut down part of the House of Commons computer system, initially believed to be by an individual, was discovered to be the work of an organised Chinese hacking group, officials said.

Security and defence officials are coy about what they know of specific attacks. However, they say several Whitehall departments have fallen victim to China's cyberwarriors. One expert described it as a "constant ongoing problem".

The disclosures came after reports that the Chinese military had hacked into a Pentagon military computer network in June. The Financial Times said American officials called it the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department.

Defence department officials confirmed that there had been a "detected penetration" of elements of the email system used by the network serving the office of Robert Gates, the US defence secretary. US officials were reported to have said that an investigation had discovered that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was responsible.

The US gave the codename "Titan Rain" to the growing number of Chinese attacks, notably directed at the Pentagon but also hitting other US government departments, over the past few years.

More at link. This time, it's the British?

 

[Jebus]

Der Spiegel isn't exactly a quality newpaper.

but also hitting other US government departments, over the past few years.

Like the British?

 

[welsh]

I wonder how much of this is retaliation against Western accusations of bad products coming out of China.

If the Chinese are like the factory for the rest of the world, maybe its time to diversify.

 

[iii]

Der Spiegel isn't exactly a quality newpaper.

Yeah, but it isn't really bad either...

Actually I think they are doing rather fine for a mainstream media.

 

[Starseeker]

Now it's the French.

Chinese hackers target government network

Chinese hackers have targeted France's information systems, in similar attacks to those reported in Britain, Germany and the US, according to a senior French security official. Francis Delon, the secretary general of national defence , confirmed a report in Le Monde, saying there was evidence of Chinese involvement in attempts to penetrate government networks. But he said there was no indication that either the Chinese government or military was implicated. Last week China denied that its army was involved in international computer espionage.
Alistair Sandford in Paris

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2165801,00.html