China Cyber Attacks Toward U.S. Not Directed By Government: Official

[JayAtl]

China Cyber Attacks Toward U.S. Not Directed By Government: Official

(Reuters) - There is no cyber warfare taking place between China and the United States, a senior Chinese official said on Wednesday, after weeks of friction over accusations that China may have launched a string of Internet hacking attacks.

The two countries might suffer from cyber attacks, but they were in no way directed by either government, Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai told a small group of foreign reporters ahead of a meeting with U.S. officials in Hawaii this weekend.

"I want to clear something up: there are no contradictions between China and the United States" on the issue of hacking, Cui said.

"Though hackers attack the U.S. Internet and China's Internet, I believe they do not represent any country," he added.

Both countries were in fact already discussing the problem of hacking during their regular strategic consultations, Cui said.

"The international community ought to come up with some rules to prevent this misuse of advanced technology," he added.

The accusations against China have centered on an intrusion into the security networks of Lockheed Martin Corp and other U.S. military contractors, as well as efforts to gain access to the Google email accounts of U.S. officials and Chinese human rights advocates.

China has vociferously denied having anything to do with hacking attacks, saying it too is a major victim.

"Internet security is an issue for all countries, and it is a most pressing matter," Cui said.

"Of course, every country has different abilities when it comes to this problem," he added.

"The United States is the most advanced country in the world when it comes to this technology, and we hope they can step up communication and cooperation on this with other countries. We also hope this advanced technology is not used for destructive purposes."

The Internet has become a major bone of contention between Washington and Beijing.

This month, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Washington was seriously concerned about cyber-attacks and was prepared to use force against those it considered an act of war.

The latest friction over hacking could bring Internet policy back to the foreground of U.S.-China relations, reprising tension from last year when the Obama administration took up Google's complaints about hacking and censorship from China.

Google partly pulled out of China after that dispute. Since then, it has lost more share to rival Baidu Inc in China's Internet market

China, with more than 450 million Internet users, exercises tight control and censorship over the Web at home, and has strengthened its grip in recent months.

In February, overseas Chinese websites, inspired by anti-authoritarian uprisings across the Arab world, called for protests across China, raising Beijing's alarm about dissent and prompting tightened restrictions over the Internet.

China already blocks major foreign social websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said last week that the United States was looking into ways to craft trade countermeasures that treat curbs on Internet commerce as non-tariff barriers to trade

 

[JayAtl]

Suffice to say the US does not believe Mr. Cui - as evident when Obama discussed his concerns about the Google hacking episode on his last trip to China. US recently declared cyber crimes by a govt.backed groups shall amount to an act of war.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Go nuke Britain. We've actually got the evidence this time.

Police admit cybercrime is 'deeply worrying' as Essex teen is charged - Crime, UK - The Independent

Police admit cybercrime is 'deeply worrying' as Essex teen is charged

Ryan Cleary, 19, is allegedly a member of LulzSec, one of the newbreed of hacking groups giving police new problems

By Jerome Taylor

Thursday, 23 June 2011

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Earlier this month, Google said it was targeted by hackers

GETTY IMAGES

Earlier this month, Google said it was targeted by hackers

* Photos enlarge

Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, Google, the CIA, the US Senate, the National Health Service, Sony, Lockheed Martin, Citibank and Epsilon. The list of organisations hacked over the past few months is as long as it is shocking.

Cyber security experts and analysts say rapid changes in how hackers launch attacks and group themselves together have led to an unprecedented wave of successful assaults.

Britain's top police officer said yesterday that cybercrime had become a major menace. Sir Paul Stephenson said it had become "extraordinarily significant and deeply worrying".
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Ryan Cleary, a 19-year-old from Essex, was charged yesterday with hacking the website of the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency.

He is also accused of attacks on websites of the British Phonographic Industry and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

He is alleged to be a member of the hacking group LulzSec. Experts say the emergence of "hactivist" collectives like LulzSec and Anonymous has led to chaotic unpredictability in the hacking scene whilst criminal groups – intent on stealing data for financial profit – have displayed increasingly finessed hacking techniques which are much harder to detect.

"The way people hack is changing," Mark Waghorne, the KPMG information security director said "Hackers are playing the long game, taking time over infiltrating an organisation's systems."

Attacks on Sony and Lockheed Martin have fuelled concern among analysts. The Sony attack, when some 77 million account users were stolen in April from its PlayStation Network, was the largest data theft in history

Last month, the US defence company Lockheed Martin said that it had been hit by a "significant and tenacious" attack.

The attackers broke into Lockheed servers by carrying out an even more audacious attack on security company RSA which made secure log-on keys for Lockheed employees.

Analysts blame criminal or industrial espionage networks rather than politically minded hactivist collectives such as Anonymous and LulzSec.

But the surge in popularity of such networks has led to a worrying explosion in disruption attacks against a vast array of targets.

In the past two months, LulzSec has been accused of attacking Fox TV, the CIA and the website of Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency.

It has also hacked into a number of websites and published thousands of user details online.

Sophos cyber security expert Graham Cluley said: "Hacking groups are deliberately using social networks to publicise what they do and ask for help from members of the public."

The anarchic nature of groups such as Anonymous and LulzSec has, however, caused widespread disagreements and tit-for-tat attacks among rival hacking networks. Anonymous and LulzSec last week announced a joint venture to turn on government and banks. "Top priority is to steal and leak any classified government information, including e-mail spools and documentation," they said in an online statement. Previously the two groups had been rivals. In the past few days, LulzSec has suffered hack attacks. A group which calls itself the "Web Ninjas" claims to have unmasked the identity of some of LulzSec's key leaders and broken into a number of their chat rooms. A second well-known hacking group, Team Poison, has also declared cyberwar on LulzSec and claims to have broken into a website of one of the hacking group's leaders.

LulzSec has taken vengeance on two former supporters which it accuses of "snitching" on it to the FBI by publishing personal details including addresses.

Graham Cluley, of Sophos, says that the infighting among groups may eventually lead to the arrest and the capture of the culprits as the rival hackers dig up dirt on each other.

"There's a huge amount of bravado, rivalry and boasting within these groups," Mr Cluley said.

Year of the hack: 2011's victims so far

Sony

The Japanese tech giant has been hit by a double whammy of hacks this year. The first in April, was the largest single data breach in internet history where hackers77 million users' details from the PlayStation Network. Suspicion has fallen on criminal hacking groups, rather than hactivist collectives. A month later LulzSec hit Sony Pictures, carrying off a further one million user details.

CIA

Last week LulzSec boasted that it had taken down the public homepage of the CIA. The method it used – a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack – is relatively simple technique that doesn't actually involve any hacking. Instead a network of computers bombard a site with information requests until it shuts down. These temporary disruption attacks have formed the basis of much of LulzSec's work.

Google

The search giant went public earlier this month with a claim that Chinese hackers had tried to steal the passwords of hundreds of Gmail account holders, including those of senior US government officials. China said the claims were "unacceptable". Most security analysts believe Russia and China have the most sophisticated hacking networks, with Chinese hackers previously implicated in Google hacks.

Citibank

Earlier this month, Citibank admitted that 200,000 of its credit card customers in North America had their names, account numbers and email addresses stolen after the site was hacked. Suspicion has again fallen on criminal networks. The bank assured its customers that the hackers did not manage to gain access to any social security numbers, birth dates, card expiration dates or card security codes.

 

[casual]

Suffice to say the US does not believe Mr. Cui - as evident when Obama discussed his concerns about the Google hacking episode on his last trip to China. US recently declared cyber crimes by a govt.backed groups shall amount to an act of war.

empty words. there's no way to prove where an cyber attack came from as anyone can route though chinese servers and US investigators can't do to trace after that.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

empty words. there's no way to prove where an cyber attack came from as anyone can route though chinese servers and US investigators can't do to trace after that.

And even if they could prove it, where is the war?

What happened when Georgia was invaded by Russia? What happened when North Korea detoned nuclear weapons, and supposedly sunk a South Korean battleship? And then fired artilery shells on Yeonpyeong island right afterwards?

I'd like to see if they even "threaten" war, let alone actually carry it out. Their economic interests are far too strong, they won't even openly label us as currency manipulators, for fear of an economic backlash.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Why do you guys even bother arguing... Do as I say - nuke Britain. We've got proof this time.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Why do you guys even bother arguing... Do as I say - nuke Britain. We've got proof this time.

Yep, let them put their money where their mouth is.

 

[casual]

And even if they could prove it, where is the war?

What happened when Georgia was invaded by Russia? What happened when North Korea detoned nuclear weapons, and supposedly sunk a South Korean battleship? And then fired artilery shells on Yeonpyeong island right afterwards?

I'd like to see if they even "threaten" war, let alone actually carry it out. Their economic interests are far too strong, they won't even openly label us as currency manipulators, for fear of an economic backlash.

don't worry about it, on one would support a actual physical war when nothing physical was harmed.

 

[JayAtl]

Go nuke Britain. We've actually got the evidence this time.

Police admit cybercrime is 'deeply worrying' as Essex teen is charged - Crime, UK - The Independent

I thought i was on your ignore list as you proudly proclaimed. follow through

 

[gambit]

Go nuke Britain. We've actually got the evidence this time.

Police admit cybercrime is 'deeply worrying' as Essex teen is charged - Crime, UK - The Independent

Wrong...He was NOT acting on behalf of a government. If the British government was actively prosecuting such acts committed by British citizens and with British sourced resources, then the UK is absolved from any crime. In the case of China, if the evidence proved that cyber warfare was a Chinese government policy and is being conducted against US, then China is committing an act of war.

 

[gambit]

don't worry about it, on one would support a actual physical war when nothing physical was harmed.

Is airspace virtual or real territory? If the US repeated violate Chinese airspace would China do nothing?

 

[JayAtl]

Wrong...He was NOT acting on behalf of a government. If the British government was actively prosecuting such acts committed by British citizens and with British sourced resources, then the UK is absolved from any crime. In the case of China, if the evidence proved that cyber warfare was a Chinese government policy and is being conducted against US, then China is committing an act of war.

well now that would call for him to read what I posted before ....

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Is airspace virtual or real territory? If the US repeated violate Chinese airspace would China do nothing?

Well America is doing nothing now, so what is your point?

Are you saying perhaps, that it is good to do nothing, when countries are constantly making "acts of war" (hacking attacks) on you?

 

[gambit]

Well America is doing nothing now, so what is your point?

Are you saying perhaps, that it is good to do nothing, when countries are constantly making "acts of war" (hacking attacks) on you?

Whether we chose to respond or not is not the point, which is that a government directed cyber warfare attack constitute an act of war. Our method of response is of our own choosing. If anything, this comment from you is a tacit acknowledgment that a Chinese government directed cyber warfare policy is real if not actually happening. Good job.

 

[Black Widow]

China is a country where Everything is controlled by government... There is no doubt that chinese Govt use hackers to steal information from developed countries...


Without Government approval nothing can be done in china..