US Hacker attacks linked to Chinese military A systematic effort by hackers to penetrate US government and industry computer networks stems most likely from the Chinese military, the head of a leading security institute has said. The attacks have been traced to the Chinese province of Guangdong, and the techniques used make it appear unlikely to come from any other source than the military, said Alan Paller, the director of the SANS Institute, an education and research organization focusing on cybersecurity. "These attacks come from someone with intense discipline. No other organization could do this if they were not a military organization," Paller said in a conference call. In the attacks, Paller said, the perpetrators "were in and out with no keystroke errors and left no fingerprints, and created a backdoor in less than 30 minutes. How can this be done by anyone other than a military organization?" Paller said that despite what appears to be a systematic effort to target government agencies and defence contractors, defences have remained weak in many areas. "We know about major penetrations of defence contractors," he said. Moreover, he said the US government strategy appears to be to downplay the attacks, which has not helped the situation. "We have a problem that our computer networks have been terribly and deeply penetrated throughout the US ... and we've been keeping it secret," he said. "The people who benefit from keeping it secret are the attackers." AND IN RESPONSE... China condemns hacking after alleged US attacks China has reacted to speculation that its military was trying to penetrate US computer networks, saying hacking was against Chinese law. "We have clear stipulations against hacking. No one can use the Internet to engage in illegal activities," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular briefing. "The Chinese police will deal with hacking and other activities disturbing social order in accordance with law." Qin was responding to a reported claim by the head of a leading US security institute that the Chinese military was most likely behind a systematic effort to penetrate US government and industry computer networks. The attacks have been traced to the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, Alan Paller, the director of the SANS Institute, an education and research organisation focusing on cybersecurity, said. Paller said the techniques used made it appear unlikely to come from any other source than the Chinese military. "I'm not sure about the American accusations," said Qin. "If they have proof, they should tell us." Pentagon officials confirmed earlier this year that US Defense Department websites are probed hundreds of times a day by hackers, but maintained that no classified site is known to have been penetrated by hackers. The US military has code-named the recent hacker effort "Titan Rain" and has made some strides in counter-hacking to identify the attackers, according to Paller.
Ok, first let me say that if I were China I would be attempting to hack US contractor's files to gain technology. I'm sure the US accumulates information from China that China doesn't want to have known and uses methods like cryprography to achieve this end. But I laugh when I see China talk about cracking down on "illegal hacking". The first thing that comes to mind is how well China has cracked down on "illegal copyright violation" and if the hacking crackdown is nearly as successful, China will soon be flying military jets that bear a remarkable resemblence to F-22's among other things.
