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China's Secret Cyberterrorism
Gerald Posner is former chief investigative reporter for The Daily Beast. He's the award-winning author of 10 investigative nonfiction bestsellers, on topics ranging from political assassinations, to Nazi war criminals, to 9/11, to terrorism. His latest book, Miami Babylon: Crime, Wealth and Power—A Dispatch from the Beach, was published in October. He lives in Miami Beach with his wife, the author Trisha Posner.
Elizabeth Dalziel / AP Photo
While Google weighs exiting China, a classified FBI report says that country has already developed a massive cyber army attacking the U.S. with “WMD-like” destruction capabilities.
A classified FBI report indicates that China has secretly developed an army of 180,000 cyberspies that “poses the largest single threat to the United States for cyberterrorism and has the potential to destroy vital infrastructure, interrupt banking and commerce, and compromise sensitive military and defense databases."
These spies are already launching 90,000 attacks a year just against U.S. Defense Department computers, according to a senior FBI analyst familiar with the contents of the report, making news Tuesday that the Chinese government may have hacked the email accountings of human-rights activists, prompting Google to consider withdrawing from that country, seem like child’s play.
The FBI report estimates that the Chinese Army has developed a network of over 30,000 Chinese military cyberspies, plus 150,000 private-sector computer experts, whose mission is to steal American military and technological secrets.
• Douglas Rushkoff: The Great Google Coverup? Cyber warfare is part of every developed country's 21st century arsenal. Although no U.S. official will admit it, the Pentagon, CIA, and NSA regularly probe and try to hack into China's military and industrial computer networks to obtain the information that years ago were brought back by the James Bonds of spy services. The U.S., and many of our European allies, try to find ways to wreck some havoc in the Chinese computer grid if a conflict ever takes place. The difference is that the Chinese are better than anyone else and lead the way in technological breakthroughs for the cyber battlefield. The FBI report concludes that a massive Chinese cyberattack could “be in the magnitude of a weapon of mass destruction," says the analyst, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about it, adding that it would do substantial damage to the American economy, telecommunications, electric power grid, and military preparedness.
The FBI report estimates that since 2003, the Chinese Army has specifically developed a network of over 30,000 Chinese military cyberspies, plus more than 150,000 private-sector computer experts, whose mission is to steal American military and technological secrets and cause mischief in government and financial services. China’s goal, says the FBI report, is to have the world’s premier “informationized armed forces” by 2020. According to the bureau’s classified information, the Chinese hackers are adept at implanting malicious computer code, and in 2009 companies in diverse industries such as oil and gas, banking, aerospace, and telecommunications encountered costly and at times debilitating problems with Chinese-implanted “malware.” The FBI analyst would not name the affected companies.
One of China’s most effective weapons, according to the FBI report, is a continuation of what Pentagon security investigators originally dubbed Titan Rain; it is a Chinese scanner program that probes national defense and high-tech industrial computer networks thousands of times a minute looking for vulnerabilities. The Chinese military hackers, the FBI analyst told me, enter without any keystroke errors, leave no digital fingerprints, and create a clean backdoor exit in under 20 minutes, feats considered capable only for a military or civilian spy agency of only a few governments.
These attacks are proliferating. The FBI report lays out the identifiable attacks originating from China just on the Defense Department computers; they increased from 44,000 in 2007 to 55,000 in 2008, and topped 90,000 last year. “They probe, they test our responses, as quick as we make changes and fix vulnerabilities, they are moving a step ahead,” the analyst told me.
The Chinese hackers aren’t after credit-card numbers or bank accounts or looking to steal private identities. Instead, they are hunting for information. Although the barrage of attacks may at times appear random, the FBI report concludes that it is part of a strategy to fully flush out U.S. military telecommunications and to better understand—and to attempt to intercept—intelligence being gathered by American spy agencies, particularly the National Security Agency.
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Gerald Posner is former chief investigative reporter for The Daily Beast. He's the award-winning author of 10 investigative nonfiction bestsellers, on topics ranging from political assassinations, to Nazi war criminals, to 9/11, to terrorism. His latest book, Miami Babylon: Crime, Wealth and Power—A Dispatch from the Beach, was published in October. He lives in Miami Beach with his wife, the author Trisha Posner.
octavio
Jan,13,2010;2 A.M.
So far we are not able of stopping ( prosecuting,enforcing the
law ) the fraud the USA senators are inflicting ( perpetrating )
against the USA citizens --- most of the USA senators are
whores working for the big corporations ---
On top of that,now we have the chinese trying to hurt our
extremely weak economic system.
The chinese government is less crooked and less corrupted than our government.
So,what are we going to do about this major cyber terrorists?
The solution is very simple:
( 1 ) Round all the crooked USA senaors and put them in an
airplane and land them in Beijin.
( 2 ) Once we are sure that all the chinese and all the crooked
USA senators are together.Then we drop several nuclear
bombs at once;and this problem is solved!
NinjaSauce
Is there anything a genocide can't fix?
AsherJ
Don't you know, genocide is always the final solution.
No person, no problem - Joseph Stalin
sailormoon
octavio, I am also amapola101, I am honest and tell people my 2 names. many here have 3 and 4 names, but that is alright.Where have you been.??You do not post, where I post. You post ,brilliantly. You feel about our govt. what I am trying to say. i have been, rabid posting about the Coppenahgen trip,charley rangle head of Ethics went to the environ summit.?I will not go and say drop a bomb on them,but Boy are you right. they should be fired asked to step down, thrown out for lousy jobs,abusing the people ,mispending our money,the divide is so Big beetween washington and the country Their healthcare,benefit, retirements power,And hundreds of senators of all parties, and they let our country go down the drain while they profited with the bankers wall streeters,companies, and others.And I believe money has to be made, is capitalism and Democracy,but tied to their productivity, lousy jobs cannot reap benefits.have a great day.China is a very big danger to all of, us and we are a dying dinosour.Sorry to bother you.Everybody in washington might find it funny,but people do not trust anyone and everyone from wealthy on down hurts
winkingchef
But China is manufacturing microchips for dozens of major international companies, and those chips could hold viruses set to activate when used in a computer network. Chips employed in military applications could be designed to reverse engineer the weapon's design and provide the information to Chinese spies. China's microchip output is almost doubling every two years, and chip giant Intel has opened a multibillion-dollar plant in Dalian, China.
Fact check please!
Someone needs to explain to the author the difference between China and Taiwan. Taiwan has TSMC. China has 10 year old equipment.
Taiwanese
Are you sure that China has 10 year old equipment? Taiwan has UMC, too. And do you know what TSMC and UMC are doing in China?
Nuld001
We've given away the house, the baby and the bathwater to the Chinese. The chickens have come home to roost. With Microsoft source codes at the Chinese government's disposal freely given, it's obvious that other governments are also being probed. Let us hope our government has robust intelligence and counter intelligence plans in place that are working. Given the recent terrorist panty bomber flight fiasco and the resulting repercussions, it doesn't look very good...
Genni2002
Yikes! I would definitely want to be on the good side of these cyper police, that is for sure. Not to mention the treat already discussed wrt all the things they manufacture for us and the little bugs and viruses that they could be putting in them.
Mick-BNE11
Gerald Posner can get serious prison sentence, if he had published this article in China. American firms need to starting standing up for the American principles. It's about time Google standing up to them.
Taiwanese
Mind you, it looks like that Google will concede and stay in China.
Fathom
"As a precondition to doing business in China, several years ago Microsoft was required to provide the government the source codes for the company's Office software. The Chinese State Planning Commission contended that Microsoft's Windows operating system was a secret tool of the U.S. government and demanded Microsoft instruct Chinese software engineers on inserting their own software into Window's applications."
Windows, is, was and always will be America's Achilles' Heel. It is a garbage OS that needs to be replaced wholesale by the very same OS the Chinese government has made their official OS. Linux. Until we correct this massive security compromise we will be China's meat-puppet.
Don't worry, think of this massive conversion as the economic stimulus package that it will in fact be. It's time to stop making ourselves the victim. It's time for Windows to be declared an obsolete OS and threat to National Security; then replaced, wholesale, immediately. Don't cry for Microsoft. They are free to become a package management entity for Linux, just as Ubuntu, Debian, RedHat and SuSE are. They won't go bankrupt. In fact it will improve their business model.
mnjamx
You got that right.
mothnflame
Shoot, and you guys are worried about Moot and 4chan?
Johnnyappleseed
Oh No! Y2K all over again, we need to get off the pot.
T1Brit
It will probably turn out to be have been one of the greatest fallacies of the 2oth Century that the economic development of China would lead to democratization and liberalization of that regime.
It is not going to happen - the Chinese tyranny has perfected a strategy to emerge as a superpower without giving away any of the absolute power held by the one-party autocracy.
It is a disaster for the world - aided and abetted by Microsoft and all in the name of cheap labor. George Orwell would have been unsurprised.
Monk66
nah China is going to implode within the next 20 years. China is just a larger Enron.
Fathom
China has had over Four Millennia of practice at not imploding. The notion that they are going to implode conveniently for a 'superpower' that from their perspective is still leaving custard in its diapers, is as naive as it is dangerous. The Chinese are winning The Economic; The Resource and The Diplomatic Wars against us presently. Very soon, at their present rate, they will be winning the Space Race as well. China manufactures what it consumes. China has determined they will spin their power grid on a dime, into renewable energy. China makes use of, with impunity, patents that the Oil Multinational has successfully shelved in the 'Free World' for decades and in some cases centuries. America has been devolved into a second-rate services socity propping up a first rate munitions industry that the Chines will soon have stripped bare of its intelectual capital as well. We had better stop fighting stupid oil wars to prop up our 19th Century transportation industry in a New York Minute. We had better learn the lessons imparted by Sun Tzu immediately. We had better graduate a host of Chinese speaking (every dialect, with emphasis on the technical and government dialects) intelligence operatives, regardless of their sexual proclivities. And, we had better get our heads out of our asses with regard to the contempt in which we hold the rest of the World. At our present rate we will be bankrupt and we will be spanked as our vaunted military superiority is taken away from us for being too immature to keep it.
Sun Tzu's first principle: A Successful General wins the war without ever having to fire a single shot.
Street Translation: Knee-Jerks lose the fight every time.
Taiwanese
Nah, we will see.
mnjamx
Not so fast. The very "cyberweapons" the Chinese are developing can be just as easily used against the Chinese regime by Chinese dissidents as the Chinese regime uses them, or tries to, against outsiders. In a sense, this reverses the asymmetry between governments and would-be revolutionaries that appeared and has grown since the middle of the 19th century.
Justin
Another interesting look at cyber terrorism would be the attacks on Estonia (allegedly from Russia) ...just google it. Heh.
MatCendana
@Justin- Yeah, I remember reading about this one in Wired, if I'm not mistaken. Russia didn't deny too vehemently, so presumably they were the prime movers. It was `just' a denial of service attack/s - crude, but effective in disrupting Internet communications.
BTW, I'd say all the major powers have some sort of cyber-army and spies in place. Plus Israel too. But then you don't hear too much about the British. Next to none or they are the most secretive of all? France and Germany? There's one country that seems to have the potential for millions - and should be top-notch too... India. But we never hear about them rampaging over the Net though.
Monk66
Porn for the Paranoid.
wolfboi1970
Oh BTW....Don't forget America... keep buying "MADE IN CHINA" and show your support of our ememies.
TRADE with China is the #!.... #! issue this nation MUST address if we are to even START to take back the power we have handed them over the decades.... Its a no brainer, and NO PARTY/PRESIDENT/CONGRESSMAN.SENATOR WILL EVEN ADDRESS THE PROBLEM, MAKE ANY SERIOUS MOVES TO STOP THIS ATTROCITY AND BUSINESS GOES ON AS USUAL...while most Americans flock to Walmart like flies on $hit to get that chinese bargain and save money....at the cost of sacrificing their lives liberty and future...to "made in china" KEEP ON SHOPPING!!!!
loloo33
we just need to stop shopping at wal-mart and Ikea but wait! where else we could go to?
djanimaequeen
Exactly. God forbid we start to live within our means and stop shopping!
Fathom
God forbid we roll up our sleeves and manufacture anything for our own selves. God forbid we pay those who do that manufacturing a decent Union Wage for their efforts. God forbid we develop a strong Middle-Class (the backbone of any viable Capitalist Society) in this Country once again. God forbid we smarten up.
capxxv
I work for a company doing IT / Cybersecurity, and while I believe the Chinese are definitely a considerable threat, I find this article hard to stomach because the author does not cite a single source in making his case. Every single claim he makes is sourced with "anonymous official", "classified report", or "unofficial estimate", which makes a lot of his statistical output and inferences pretty hard to believe.
manticore1223
Not to mention how hopelessly behind they are in cryptological systems....
Boyaca
This report states that the cyber attacks leave no fingerprints, no evidence that it has occurred and on and on. What the fuck? If you do not even know something happened, how can you accuse China of doing it? Doing WHAT exactly???? Is this another of those " Unknown Unknowns?" to quote another American genius, who wanted to rule the world?
I wonder if they check under the bed each night to see if one of thoes awful, Chinese geniuses is hiding under there? Jeez, Americans really do need to get a life.
dreaday19
Whether this specific crisis is manufactured or not, we need to limit trade with China. We also need to not owe them a$$loads of money, so we're kind of stuck, and they are going to do what they want to do because they know this very well.
Fathom
Hi. I was the CIO/CTO/CSO of a midsize corporation for ten years. During that time I ran honey-traps and other forms of pseudo-networks that harvested and analyzed attacks on my domain via the internet on a 24x7 basis. I became aware of China as a tactical and strategic threat in 1998. By the year 2000 I reported to my Board of Directors that China was at cyber-war with the U.S.. China is not behind us in cryptography. The University of Bejing turns out some of the finest hackers in the World; by the bucketful. They are taught Linux. Windows education consists of its weaknesses and how to break it. For computer scientists on this level; carrying a government mandate, breaking Windows is trivial. As a Nation we had better wake up.
drborst
Is someone looking to sell security software? The Chinese threat sounds like a peeping tom looking in the windows. (A group that probably did wonders for the curtian industry)
Want to know what happens here, you could look around, we aren't that good at keeping secrets. The most secretive company in Silicon Valley is about to release a Slate computer with a 7 or 10 inch screen.
I think the best defense against some computer intrusion would be to flood them with data. Maybe the pentagon should hire a few Sci Fi writers to produce detailed weapons descriptions and leave then as Word docs on classified computers, or they could start requiring all internal government e-mail include a list of phrases like Bomb Tienamen square.
BTW, I thought the Russians were the top cyber hackers, now its the Chinese, maybe the North Koreans are next?
Boyaca
The Pentagon already has those Sci Fi freaks working there. They are called the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And the top cyber hackers are .................The American Enemy Of The Day. Or demon, or what ever. Oh wait maybe it's the president of Iran, the other enemy du jour.
I guess the Pentagon is thrashing around looking for someone else to attack or invade. Don't panic no one is going to attack the USA ....... at least for now.
jomama
My personal cloud-server was hacked from Beijing. This is widespread and it's real.
Thank you.
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