China Denies Hacking U.S. Computers

Congressmen Say Their Computers, Containing Information About Political Dissidents, Were Hit

(AP)  China denied accusations by two U.S. lawmakers that it hacked into congressional computers, saying Thursday that as a developing country it wasn't capable of sophisticated cybercrime.

"Is there any evidence? ... Do we have such advanced technology? Even I don't believe it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regularly scheduled news conference.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, a senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Wednesday that their office computers were hacked into by people working from China. Both lawmakers, longtime critics of China's human rights record, said the compromised computers had information regarding political dissidents.

Wolf said four of his computers were compromised beginning in 2006. Smith said two of the computers at his global human rights subcommittee were attacked in December 2006 and March 2007.

China has a thriving information technology industry and claims to have 221 million Internet users - equal to the U.S. as the most in the world.

Qin repeated previous denials that the government sponsors computer attacks overseas and said China also was a victim of cybercrime.

"I'd like to urge some people in the U.S. not to be paranoid," Qin said. "They should do more to contribute to mutual understanding, trust and friendship between the U.S. and China."

The lawmakers' allegations came as U.S. officials were investigating whether Chinese officials had secretly copied the contents of a government laptop during a visit to China last December by U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and used the information to try to hack into Commerce Department computers.

China has also denied that it was involved in that incident, calling the charges groundless.

The Pentagon acknowledged last month at a closed House Intelligence committee meeting that its vast computer network is scanned or attacked by outsiders more than 300 million times each day.

Wolf said the FBI had told him that computers of other House members and at least one House committee had been accessed by sources working from inside China.

The FBI and the White House have declined to comment. The Bush administration has been increasingly reluctant to publicly discuss or acknowledge cyber attacks, especially ones traced to China.

The allegations are the latest in a series of cybersecurity problems blamed on China. Reports last year cited officials in Germany, the United States and Britain as saying government and military networks had been broken into by hackers backed by the Chinese military.

[hypnotoad72]

they are probably still using Windows(TM) 98(TM) ME(TM). It''''s cheaper, don''''t-cha-know?

Posted by nfynvk74769
------------------------

Do a web search; I recall reading they get new software for $3/license. Use parameters "china $3 windows"

[demwatcher]

Well, they have to get access to technology the old fashioned way since they no longer have Bill Clinton in office to give (sell) it to them

[smurfcrusher]

So who here, expected China to admit the hacking? Their denials are laughable - at least if they were quiet they might retain some credibility.

[mibrooks27]

re: Chinese denials of computer hacking. Hogwash. The FBI and other law enforcement offices have been tracking increasing Chinese and Indian cyber espionage for at least the past three years. The worst part of this is that we know that mpost of the hackers were trained in the U.S. Both countries send hordes of students, cheap engineers and programmers here on H1-B and L-1 visas. In the case of the CHinese, *every* single one of them is vetted and we know full well that about half of them are active members of the Chinese military (and, therefore, SPIES). Since 2004, 90% of new engineering hires have been H1-B workers at a time when nearly half of U.S. engineers are unemployed, lossing their jobs to these cheap foreign workers, who are essentially tax payer subsidized foreign agents. These spies have stolen plans for the B1 and B2 bomber, our stealth fighter technology, plans for night vision engipment, the guidance system for our cruise missiles, our latest field deployed anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, our security analysis technology for optical fiber networks, even the stealth technolog used by U.S. submaines (a Chinese sub recently popped up in the middle of a war game, completely undetcted, using that technology!). It''s kind of late, but we either end these programs and stop offshoring our critical technology or we will cease to exist. Free trade is treason!

[alphaa10-2009]

nfynvk74769 said, "they are probably still using Windows(TM) 98(TM) ME(TM). It''s cheaper, don''''t-cha-know?"
---

Cheaper? Not really-- else how do you explain the Microsoft fortune?

In any case, Windows is such a security joke, our own NSA uses something-- anything-- else. NSA Linux is only one example. NASA and NOAA use Unix, Linux or other systems, as well.

The PRC has even developed its own version of Linux to provide security for their governmental computers-- why not the United States?

Windows populates most federal desktops simply because it has not been made clear to harried federal IT administrators that security is the first requirement.

And because there are federal managers in Washington, who-- Dilbert-style-- haven''t the professional depth to understand there are better operating sytesms for the federal desktop than Windows.

Were the feds running a competitive desktop system on Linux or Apple OS, they would be ahead of the game. Not perfect, but at least ahead. And the fiscal budgets could shrink drastically, for once, since Windows would not be such a big budget item any longer.

[alphaa10-2009]

nfynvk74769 said, "they are probably still using Windows(TM) 98(TM) ME(TM). It''s cheaper, don''''t-cha-know?"
---

Cheaper? Not really-- else how do you explain the Microsoft fortune?

In any case, Windows is such a security joke, our own NSA uses something-- anything-- else. NSA Linux is only one example. NASA and NOAA use Unix, Linux or other systems, as well.

The PRC has even developed its own version of Linux to provide security for their governmental computers-- why not the United States?

Windows populates most federal desktops simply because it has not been made clear to harried federal IT administrators that security is the first requirement.

And because there are federal managers in Washington, who-- Dilbert-style-- haven''t the professional depth to understand there are better operating sytesms for the federal desktop than Windows.

Were the feds running a competitive desktop system on Linux or Apple OS, they would be ahead of the game. Not perfect, but at least ahead. And the fiscal budgets could shrink drastically, for once, since Windows would not be such a big budget item any longer.

[alphaa10-2009]

CBS reports, the PRC''s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, "Is there any evidence? ... Do we have such advanced technology? Even I don''t believe it."
---

Of course. But our own FBI has used little programs called "keyloggers" to capture evidence from Mafioso keyboards sufficient to indict them for tax evasion-- and that was almost a decade ago.

A keylogger captures login names and passwords and then phones the data home, but is only the beginning of penetration. Once inside the computer and its network, wholesale amounts of data-- from names and addresses of dissidents, to their contacts elsewhere-- are available to the secret police state of the PRC.

The key word of the preceding paragraph is "network"-- meaning, the entire US congress is connected through various networks and complexes of networks. This network infrastructure is the real target of the PRC, not Rep. Wolf, alone.

By now, any responsible IT administrator in congress is on full alert for implanted keyloggers and various other digital creatures serving their masters in Beijing (and elsewhere).

Rep. Wolf and Rep. Smith deserve a note of thanks for bringing the matter into full public discussion. Quite obviously, keeping computer security breaches secret wasn''t getting significant results.

[alphaa10-2009]

CBS reports, "The problem has been that no one wants to talk about this issue," said (US Rep.) Wolf. "Every time I''ve started to do something I''ve been told ''You can''t do this.'' A lot of people have made it very, very difficult."
---
As widely reported for at least the past eight years, the US government has known about coodinated PRC hacking, probing and testing of access to the American computer inrrastructure. The PRC campaign has been dubbed "Titan Rain" and continues to this hour.

Why the FBI, NSA and other agencies want to say little or nothing may be due to how little they believe matters of national security actually involve the people of this nation. They prefer this matter to be handled by the "proper authorities behind closed doors" (at least, to spare them embarrassment).

And much discussion should be confidential, but fear not that our intel agencies will damage themselves through excess of zeal in releasing information to the American public. That, in fact, appears to be the source of the problem-- the intel agencies don''t want to talk about data security, hoping it will go away as a public issue.

However, as Rep. Wolf points out, the danger of our failing to recognize the PRC penetration campaign directly harms innocent people-- American and foreign national, alike.

(see Federal Data Insecurity--2)

[alphaa10-2009]

Federal Data Insecurity--2

For years, federal computer security has been a joke. Federal agencies up and down the scale of security from NASA to DOD have been exploited by everybody from teenage UK hackers to the most secret of PRC agencies.

This appalling condition persists, despite a GOP bozo who calls himself the Leader of the War on Terror. At his urging, and with grand, ambitious plans, the Department of Homeland Security went around the country promising to create a data fortress against penetration by terrorists. And then-- nothing happened.

Ironically, and after some five years of well-funded frenzy, the worst agency offender of all until recently was the fabled Department of Homeland Security, itself. This past year, DHS raised its security enough to go from a "D" to a "B+" on the yearly report card issued by the US congress on computer security at federal departments and agencies. (see http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/media/PDFs/Reports/FY2007FISMAReportCard.pdf )

Please note other agencies, including our own Department of Defense, which got a "D-" in 2007-- a slight improvement over the previous year''s "F". Or, our own NASA, which went from a "D-" to a "C".

Is anyone still at work in Washington? Or has Bush outsourced everything? As leader of the purported "War on Terror", Bush should declare himself a national security risk, and resign.

[ricknuber]

Why is Bush the "war president" silent? Maybe big RNC donors make tons of cash off their shady support for China.

China is our enemy, no question. who in our government is protecting them?