WSJ: U.S. Fears Threat of Cyberspying at Olympics

WASHINGTON -- A debate is brewing in the U.S. government over whether to publicly warn businesspeople and other travelers heading to the Beijing Olympics about the dangers posed by Chinese computer hackers.

According to government officials and security consultants, U.S. intelligence agencies are worried about the potential threat to U.S. laptops and cellphones. But others, including the State and Commerce departments and some companies, are trying to quiet the issue for fear of offending the Chinese, these people say.
Barack Obama became the first major presidential candidate to propose new cybersecurity policies Wednesday when he unveiled his cybersecurity strategy, which includes combating corporate espionage, shielding the country's Internet infrastructure and establishing a national cybersecurity adviser.
U.S. intelligence and security officials are concerned by the frequency with which spies in China and other countries are targeting traveling U.S. corporate and government officials. The Department of Homeland Security issued a warning last month to certain government and private-sector officials stating that business and government travelers' electronic devices are often targeted by foreign governments. The warning wasn't available to the public. [...]

The Truth About Chinese Hackers

Here another article on China and its hackers. Written by Bruce Schneier, it gives a different perspective on the many statements appeared recently on China and its Cyber activities. Unfortunately Schneier does not provide any reference to support his theory.

http://dsc.discovery.com/technology/my-take/computer-hackers-china.html
The scoop: Last week, Rep. Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican, said four of his government computers had been hacked by sources working out of China. Bruce Schneier, an internationally renowned security technologist, gives us his take on what went down.
The popular media concept is that there is a coordinated attempt by the Chinese government to hack into U.S. computers -- military, government corporate -- and steal secrets. The truth is a lot more complicated.
There certainly is a lot of hacking coming out of China. Any company that does security monitoring sees it all the time.
These hacker groups seem not to be working for the Chinese government. They don't seem to be coordinated by the Chinese military. They're basically young, male, patriotic Chinese citizens, trying to demonstrate that they're just as good as everyone else. As well as the American networks the media likes to talk about, their targets also include pro-Tibet, pro-Taiwan, Falun Gong and pro-Uyghur sites.
The hackers are in this for two reasons: fame and glory, and an attempt to make a living. The fame and glory comes from their nationalistic goals. Some of these hackers are heroes in China. They're upholding the country's honor against both anti-Chinese forces like the pro-Tibet movement and larger forces like the United States.
And the money comes from several sources. The groups sell owned computers, malware services, and data they steal on the black market. They sell hacker tools and videos to others wanting to play. They even sell T-shirts, hats and other merchandise on their Web sites.

China's cyber warfare against India

IndiaPost.com - China's cyber warfare against India: China's intensified cyber warfare against India is becoming a serious threat to national security. The desire to possess 'electronic dominance' over India has compelled Chinese hackers to attack many crucial Indian websites and over the past one and a half years, they have mounted almost daily attacks on Indian computer networks - both government and private.
In October 2007, for example, Chinese hackers defaced over 143 Indian websites. Phishing is a term derived from fishing, and is a fraudulent activity on the Internet to acquire personal information. In phishing, the hackers use spoofed e-mails to lure innocent Internet users and get their personal information like bank account number, credit card details, and password and so on.
In April 2008, Indian intelligence agencies detected Chinese hackers breaking into the computer network of the Ministry of External Affairs forcing the government to think about devising a new strategy to fortify the system. Though the intelligence agencies failed to get the identity of the hackers, the IP addresses left behind suggested Chinese hands.
While hacking is a normal practice around the world, the cyber warfare threat from China has serious implications. At the core of the assault is the fact that the Chinese are constantly scanning and mapping India's official networks.
According to India's CERT-In, in the year 2006, a total of 5,211 Indian websites were defaced, on an average of about 14 websites per day. Of the total number of sites that were hacked and defaced, an overwhelming majority were in the .com domain (90 cases) followed by 26 in the .in domain. As many as 11 defacement incidents were also recorded in the .org domain."

US: Chinese counterfeit routers sold to US Military

ESR June 23, 2008 FBI confidential
According to a leaked secret FBI document, Chinese counterfeiters have sold close to $75 million of fake Cisco Systems routers to the U.S. military. While this revelation has been largely ignored by the mainstream media, it raises troubling questions about both the integrity of U.S. defense cyber networks and the possible motives of a foreign government with a long rap sheet for military espionage and cyber hacking.
Routers are specialized computers that provide the virtual "pipes" to move millions of information packets through the world wide web, and it's no accident that China is counterfeiting Cisco designs. Cisco not only holds about 80% of the world's router market. It also outsources a significant share of its router production to China. Of course, once an American company outsources to China, the likelihood that its technology will be stolen and then reproduced for sale into world markets is extraordinarily high.
In fact, China is the counterfeit capital of the world. It accounts for two thirds of all the world's pirated and counterfeited goods and fully 80% of all counterfeit goods seized at U.S. borders. The long list of purloined products includes everything from auto parts, baby food, and cigarettes to prescription drugs like Viagra and Lipitor and high tech equipment like routers and switches.
In each case, Chinese counterfeit products pose significant health and safety risks. For example, fake Viagra jazzed with strychnine or "Lipitor" with no active ingredients can both cause heart attacks. Counterfeit brake pads made from inferior materials can lead to deadly crashes. Cigarettes laced with cadmium and lead make one of the most efficient killers in the world even more deadly.
In this particular case, one obvious danger with America's national cyber defense system being run through fake inferior routers is system failure at critical junctures. However, the more subtle - and far more disturbing - problem identified by the FBI is this: At least some of China's fake routers may be specially designed to provide Chinese hackers with undetectable "back doors" into the highest echelons of classified information throughout the defense department bureaucracy. That this possibility is closer to science fact than science fiction is bolstered by the work of scientists from the University of Illinois who recently demonstrated how it is possible to alter a computer chip to provide such undetectable access.
This specter of a virtual Chinese Trojan Horse deep in the bowels of the Pentagon raises an even bigger question, likewise posed by the FBI report: Are China's sales of fake Internet equipment to America's defense industry driven purely by the profit-seeking of rogue Chinese entrepreneurs?
Alternatively, are these sales the result of state-sponsored cyber-terrorism specifically designed to penetrate U.S. defenses - and perhaps disable those defenses in time of conflict?
In support of the profit motive, there is this salient fact: According to FBI data, a typical router made by Cisco costs about $1400 to make while the inferior counterfeit can be knocked off for a little over $200. That allows for a bigger mark-up than even drug trafficking - which is why counterfeiting is such big business in China. That said, anybody who believes that China's counterfeiters "come in peace" merely to make a quick buck needs to read some of the strategic tomes on cyber warfare generated by China's military think tanks.
Exhibit A in the state-sponsored terrorism case is the work of Chinese Air Force Colonels Qiao Ling and Wang Xiangsui. They have written that "the first rule of unrestricted warfare is that there are no rules, with nothing forbidden." They go on to describe a scenario in which China "buries a computer virus and hacker detachment in the opponent's computer system . so that the civilian electricity network, traffic dispatching network, financial transactions network, telephone communications network, and mass media network are completely paralyzed." Their overriding goal is to "cause the enemy nation to fall into social panic, street riots, and a political crisis."
These are sobering dangers indeed, particularly in light of how easy it seems to be to dupe even America's defense establishment into buying counterfeit goods. But what is ultimately so disturbing about all of this may well be how little attention either our government or the American people or the American media seem to want to pay to America's growing China threat.

UK Ministry of Defence to bolster internet intelligence

Ministry of Defence to bolster internet intelligence - SC Magazine UK: "The Ministry of Defence is aiming to increase its online intelligence gathering in a growing realisation of the threat to the UK from international cybercrime activity.

Air Commodore Graham Wright, a senior information professional from the Ministry of Defence said it is placing great focus on analysing the internet threats to the UK and being able to compromise the data of enemy countries.

'Computer Network Defence is something we take a great deal of interest in. There is a huge shift towards holding information on networks,' Wright told a conference in Westminster yesterday organised by the government-funded Cyber Security Knowledge Transfer Network."

Chinese hackers blamed for power cuts - The INQUIRER

Chinese hackers blamed for power cuts : "Chinese hackers blamed for power cuts"
From the Inquirer
CYBER WAR CLAIMS are now getting out of hand, with US government spinners being prepared to blame everything on the Chinese.
A report in the National Journal, claims that Chinese hackers were responsible for a recent power outage in Florida, and the widespread blackout which struck the northeastern US in 2003.
In a literal game of Chinese whispers, the story quotes insecurity experts, who in turn cite unnamed US military intelligence [surely a contradiction in terms. Ed]
The story is that the People's Liberation Army may have cracked the computers controlling the US power grid to trigger the cascading 2003 blackout that cut off electricity to 50 million people in eight states and a Canadian province.
Unfortunately it is not just a bit, but completely, untrue.
At the time investigators blamed 'overgrown trees' that came into contact with strained high-voltage lines near facilities in Ohio owned by FirstEnergy.
No one suggested the trees were a Chinese plant.
But according to Wired, the recent claim is all part of a cunning plan to convince the citizens of the US that they are at grave risk from cyber terrorists.
It all started when intelligence boss Michael McConnell decided that cyber terrorism would be a wizard way of getting warrantless NSA surveillance. He claimed cyber terrorists were costing the US a $100 billion a year.
But this is the first time that the yarn has been linked to one of the most thoroughly-investigated power incidents in US history.
Next it will be found that Chinese hackers were responsible for the housing credit crunch, Miley Cyrus, television reality talent shows and other atrocities.