Forwarded From: William Knowles <erehwonat_private> BILL GERTZ THE WASHINGTON TIMES May 16, 1999 Chinese hackers raid U.S. computers Chinese hackers have attacked U.S. government information systems, including the White House network, in response to the errant bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, according to an FBI report. An e-mail copy of the report, "China Cyber Activity," was obtained by The Washington Times. The report said Chinese-origin attacks on White House, State Department and other government computer systems could be copied by sympathizers in the United States. "Much of this activity traces back to Chinese addresses, and much of the reporting of this activity comes from official Chinese news sources," the report said. The cyber attacks followed the May 7 bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade and could be one of the first government-sponsored information-warfare attacks on the United States. The Pentagon and CIA have warned of such incidents. China is one of several nations working on the capability to knock out vital computer, information and electronic systems. According to Chinese military writings, the People's Liberation Army is developing information-warfare capabilities designed to cripple high-technology weapons and support systems. The FBI's e-mail alert was sent last week to corporate security managers from the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NPIC), a joint FBI-Justice Department office in charge of protecting critical infrastructures and dealing with computer attacks. "NIPC has received multiple reports of recent hacking and cyber activity directed at U.S. government computer networks, in response to the accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade," the report said. "Targets include Departments of Interior, Energy and State, the U.S. Embassy in China, and The White House." An FBI spokeswoman familiar with the report, Anita Dickens, declined to comment. According to the report, the cyber attacks included replacing official Web pages with protest material and offensive language, posting similar language in Internet chat rooms and news groups, and "denial of service e-mail attacks." E-mail attacks, also called "spamming," are orchestrated electronic activities designed to disrupt or shut down computer networks. Pentagon computer systems were disrupted last week by mass e-mailing that is believed to have originated in China, according to one source. On Tuesday, NBC News reported that the official White House Web site was shut down after an attempt was made to break into the system operating the page. A White House spokesman told the network the hackers were not identified. The incident was reported on China's official Xinhua news agency. According to the official China Daily newspaper, hackers also broke into the official Web site of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing last week and inserted the slogan "Down with the barbarians" on the main page. On another page, they replaced a photograph of Ambassador James Sasser with the same slogan in Chinese characters. The NIPC recommended that government and private sector organizations take steps to increase the protection of computer networks and systems from unauthorized intruders. The center said hacker attacks might come from, or pass through, "dial-up connections belonging to foreign Internet service providers," or come in the form of "unauthorized system access, unusual or disruptive e-mail traffic or Web-site activity." The e-mail alert urged computer system administrators to report suspicious activity to the FBI or NIPC. The report did not say whether the Chinese government was behind the activities. However, Stephen Bryen, a former Pentagon export control official, said the Chinese maintain tight control over Internet service providers and it is unlikely the cyber attacks could be launched by individuals without the approval of the government. "This might well be an information-warfare attack, something the Chinese have said they will do," Mr. Bryen said. "I think we're very vulnerable. "I think it's inevitable that this would happen. We're not the only targets, but we're one of the prime targets," he said. Mr. Bryen said he is troubled by the lack of controls over American companies that have been selling the Chinese information and know-how that can be applied to information warfare. Mr. Bryen said he believed that recent incidents of Chinese electronic warfare indicate "the Chinese are just practicing" because the origin was not disguised. In more sophisticated attacks, it is difficult to detect the source, he said. Mr. Bryen said the Chinese can be expected to respond to public disclosure of the information-warfare attacks by claiming they are the work of individuals and not sanctioned by the government. "But the reality is nobody can do anything on the Internet in China without government approval," he said. Chinese officials have learned how to filter out news and information on the Internet and to maintain other controls over its use, he said. U.S. warplanes dropped satellite-guided bombs during the raid over Belgrade May 7, mistakenly destroying the Chinese Embassy and killing three journalists inside. The bombing set off demonstrations in China and caused the Beijing government to cut all military ties to the United States. -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Hacker News Network [www.hackernews.com]
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