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Major cyber spy network uncovered
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| Magnetonium |
Wow ... :eek: :nervous: :eyes:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7970471.stm
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An electronic spy network, based mainly in China, has infiltrated computers from government offices around the world, Canadian researchers say.
They said the network had infiltrated 1,295 computers in 103 countries.
They included computers belonging to foreign ministries and embassies and those linked with the Dalai Lama - Tibet's spiritual leader.
There is no conclusive evidence China's government was behind it, researchers say. Beijing also denied involvement.
The report, Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network, comes after a 10-month investigation by the Information Warfare Monitor (IWM), which comprises researchers from Ottawa-based think tank SecDev Group and the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies.
They were acting on a request from the Tibetan spiritual leader's office to check whether the computers of his Tibetan exile network had been infiltrated.
Researchers found that ministries of foreign affairs of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and Bhutan appear to had been targeted.
Hacked systems were also discovered in the embassies of India, South Korea, Indonesia, Romania, Cyprus, Malta, Thailand, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan.
Analysts say the attacks are in effect industrial espionage, with hackers showing an interest in the activities of lawmakers and major companies.
Compromised
The researchers said hackers were apparently able to take control of computers belonging to several foreign ministries and embassies across the world using malicious software, or malware.
"We uncovered real-time evidence of malware that had penetrated Tibetan computer systems, extracting sensitive documents from the private office of the Dalai Lama," investigator Greg Walton was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying.
They say they believe the system, which they called GhostNet, was focused on governments in Asia.
By installing malware on compromised computers, hackers were able to take control of them to send and receive classified data.
In this case, the software also gave hackers the ability to use audio and video recording devices to monitor the rooms the computers were in. But investigators said they did not know whether or not this element had been used.
According to the New York Times, the spying operation is the largest to have been uncovered in terms of the number of countries affected.
In an abstract for a second report released on Sunday by two Cambridge University researchers - entitled The Snooping Dragon: Social Malware Surveillance of the Tibetan Movement - investigators said while such attacks were not new, these particularly stood out for their ability to collect "actionable intelligence for use by the police and security services of a repressive state, with potentially fatal consequences for those exposed". |
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| Magnetonium |
And its not just the Canadian researchers who think so. Why is Russia still treated as the enemy by NATO and American establishment, I wonder ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7097296.stm
China spying 'biggest US threat'
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Chinese espionage poses "the single greatest risk" to the security of US technology, a panel has told Congress.
China is pursuing new technology "aggressively", it says, legitimately through research and business deals and illegally through industrial espionage.
China has also "embraced destructive warfare techniques", the report says, enabling it to carry out cyber attacks on other countries' infrastructure.
A foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing denied any spying activities by China.
"China and the US have a fundamental common interest in promoting sound and rapid development," said Liu Jianchao, quoted by the Associated Press news agency.
Weapons advances
The allegations were made by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission in its annual report.
The Pentagon, Jan 2007
China denied reports that it had hacked into Pentagon computers
The advisory panel, appointed by Congress, recommended that US security measures and intelligence be stepped up to try to prevent the theft of military technology, in particular.
"Chinese espionage activities in the United States are so extensive that they comprise the single greatest risk to the security of American technologies," the report said.
It urged Congress to study "military, intelligence and homeland security programmes that protect critical American computer networks and sensitive information, specifically those charged with protecting networks from damage caused by cyber attacks".
The report also identified other grounds for concern, such as the fact that the Chinese are manufacturing "sophisticated weapon platforms" speedily and efficiently.
The unexpected pace of China's military development has fuelled analysts' suspicions that it is being helped by stolen information, the commission said.
'Unfair trade'
In addition, the Chinese media - firmly under state control - are being used to create "deep feelings of nationalism", it said.
In an international crisis, the panel warned, that could turn misunderstanding into conflict.
The report also criticised Chinese economic policy, saying that small and medium-sized American businesses "face the full brunt of China's unfair trade practices, currency manipulation and illegal subsidies for Chinese exports".
The BBC's Vincent Dowd in Washington says that this is a hard-hitting report which will be consumed eagerly and with concern in the US capital.
In September, the Chinese government denied reports that its military had hacked into the computer network of the US defence department in Washington. |
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| Magnetonium |
INSANITY!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4704691.stm
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More than a decade after the end of the Cold War, spies are back in the news.
But instead of hardened KGB agents lurking on street corners in dark glasses, the spy stories appearing in the Western press recently have been about fresh-faced Chinese students.
Some are said to be engaged in research at respected foreign establishments, while others are enrolled as bright young business trainees in major Western companies.
Their mission - or so the reports allege - is to use fair means or foul to gather technological and commercial intelligence that will help speed China on its way to becoming the next global superpower.
Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported recently that a leading Chinese agent had "defected" in Belgium and blown the whistle on hundreds of Chinese spies working at various levels of European industry.
Like rape victims, companies that have been infiltrated are reluctant to talk about it
John Fialka,
Author of War by Other Means
The Belgian-based economic espionage network used a group called The Chinese Students' and Scholars' Association of Leuven as a front organisation, according to the French newspaper Le Monde.
These allegations follow the case of a 22-year-old Chinese woman who was detained in France after being accused of "illegal database intrusion" by the car-parts maker Valeo, which had employed her as an intern. She has since been released.
Police in Sweden also suspect Chinese guest researchers of stealing unpublished and unpatented research from an institute there, according to the Swedish radio Ekot's website.
Gaining experience
Chen Yonglin, a Chinese diplomat who recently defected in Australia, claimed Beijing had as many as 1,000 spies in Australia alone.
But Mr Chen, a former first secretary at the Chinese consulate-general in Sydney, told the BBC News website that his lawyers had told him to say no more, for fear of jeopardising his chances of receiving political asylum.
The cool response to Mr Chen's and other defectors' requests says much about current Western attitudes towards China.
Whether in government, business or academic circles, there is a general reluctance to do or say anything that might unduly upset Beijing and threaten access to its markets - not to mention its vast pool of high-paying and often highly gifted students.
Chinese student Li-Li Whuang faces the press, 20 June 2005 as she leaves the Versailles jailhouse.
Li-Li Whuang was accused of "database intrusion" in France
China has sent 600,000 students overseas in the past 25 years as part of a conscious policy of developing its science, technology and business skills.
While some belong to well-off families who simply want their children to get a good education, most are funded by the government and are expected to return to help their country afterwards.
"It is very easy for Chinese companies or intelligence agencies to approach these students - who are often quite nationalistic - and get them to collect information that might be of either commercial or military interest," said Christian le Miere, Asia Editor of Jane's Country Risk.
The recent defections suggest there are so many such contacts that what they produce could amount to a valuable pool of intelligence, he said.
In one case that came to light in the US, Chinese agents are said to have put pressure on a recruit by telling him that his family in China was at risk if he failed to do what they wanted.
But few such cases come to court, since they are hard to prove and involve people trained not to be caught, said John Fialka, author of a book on espionage, War by Other Means.
"And like rape victims, companies that have been infiltrated are reluctant to talk about it. They don't want people to know they've been hoodwinked by their own staff," he added.
Military connections
There is often a fine line between what is legal and what is not.
Asian societies tend to have a less legalistic view of intellectual property than some other nations, Mr Fialka said.
But China differs from many other countries because of the way its economic entities are still intertwined with the government and military, he added.
China has about 3,000 "front" companies in the US that exist mainly to obtain technology and military secrets, according to US officials.
Chen Yonglin
Chen Yonglin claims Beijing has as many as 1,000 spies in Australia
Right-wing groups in the US, and opposition parties in Australia, Canada and elsewhere, are warning that Western countries may one day regret allowing China to take advantage of their openness and tolerance.
The dramatic growth in China's economic and political power will soon be matched in the military sphere, they claim.
But China has indignantly denied the spying allegations as fabrications stemming from narrow-minded fears of legitimate commercial and industrial competition.
Louis Turner, chief executive of the London-based Asia Pacific Technology Network, says it is a natural part of the "catch-up" process to place people as close as possible to where the best research is being done and get them to send back information.
"Just as Japan used to effectively steal a few tricks when it was learning from the West, I would be enormously surprised if China wasn't involved in some sort of technical espionage... and no doubt some of this is backed by the Chinese military," he said.
But he said China was genuinely keen on two-way collaboration - and said the main factors behind its rapid progress in science and technology were its sheer size, economic dynamism and willingness to learn.
Some of China's own universities are now producing world-class researchers, and some of its science parks are comparable with Silicon Valley in the 1960s, he added - "but with much more cohesiveness ... and on a much bigger scale". |
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| Arbiter |
| quote: | Originally posted by Magnetonium
Like rape victims, companies that have been infiltrated are reluctant to talk about it
John Fialka, |
lol
I guess they're embarassed that the "spies" penetrated their security... |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| um, i thought it was common knowledge that china was the #1 cyber crime nation? well, asides from the US of course who i am sure do exactly the same thing. |
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| Magnetonium |
| quote: | Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
um, i thought it was common knowledge that china was the #1 cyber crime nation? well, asides from the US of course who i am sure do exactly the same thing. |
Yeah, but did you get a glipse of the other articles? I didnt think the details could be so much shocking! :eek: THOUSANDS of Chinese AGENTS worldwide, sort of like the new KGB. |
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| DJ Damerchi |
I would imagine that after a while of living in the west, there would be a high amount of defectors "a china inda assho...I rike all dis whita gurls!!"
there was this kungfu computerscience major strait from beijing on my floor that i always accused of being a spy and for jokes, but sometimes he got very uncomfortable and offended:nervous:.
The spy game is not over for anyone, I don't understand the perception that after the coldwar ended spies ceased to exist. The mossad is still active as it ever was, I mean as late as 2004 you had Mossad trying to pose as a cerebral palsy victime to get citizenship in New Zealand.
I know Iraq is devoloping into a nation of sectarian spying, infiltrating cells and . a few other foreign agencys are trying to get their dicks wet in Iraq.
FSB(KGB) still lives at large man. |
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| The17sss |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ Damerchi
"a china inda assho...I rike all dis whita gurls!!"
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:haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: |
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