http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/06/asia/webcyber.php By David Lague September 6, 2007 BEIJING: Reports that Chinese military hackers have attacked the computer systems of Western governments have renewed uncertainty about the control China's civilian leaders exert over the country's increasingly powerful armed forces, defense experts say. The accusations have exposed top Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, to diplomatic embarrassment and have the potential to undermine Beijing's efforts to reassure the United States and other Asian powers that they have nothing to fear from the rise of China. President George W. Bush said Wednesday that he might raise concerns about the hacking with Hu when the two were scheduled to meet Thursday in Sydney on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting. He declined Thursday to say whether the topic had been brought up. "It looks pretty messy for Hu," said Allan Behm, a Canberra-based security analyst and former senior Australian defense department official. "He may not have even known about it." He added: "It seems that at the top level, the Chinese leadership is fragmented in coordinating these major issues." The Pentagon said Tuesday that U.S. military computers had been penetrated earlier this year but declined to comment on a report in the Financial Times that the Chinese military was behind the hacking. China strongly denied the report. "China is a responsible country and we never do these kind of despicable things," said Yang Yi, a researcher at China's National Defense University quoted Thursday in the official China Daily. Earlier, other senior U.S. defense officials said that China had conducted surveillance of official and private computer networks in the United States as part of a concerted effort to gather intelligence. Last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany warned at a joint news conference with Wen in Beijing that the two countries should observe "a set of game rules," referring to reports that hackers linked to the Chinese military had attacked computers in her Berlin office and other German government departments. Wen did not dispute that the reported hacking took place but attempted to distance the Chinese government from the accusations and promised to cooperate with international efforts to combat computer crime. There have also been reports that Chinese hackers have attacked government departments in Britain. Outside the secretive party and government bureaucracy in China, little is known about the ties between the civilian leadership and the sprawling, 2.3 million-strong People's Liberation Army. As Hu attempts to consolidate his power ahead of the important 17th Party Congress expected to be held in October, doubts remain that he exercises the same control over the military as earlier Communist leaders. These doubts were heightened when the Chinese military shot down an obsolete weather satellite in January, seemingly without informing the civilian bureaucracy in advance of what was clearly a provocative move that drew widespread international protest. Some foreign analysts suspect that it is difficult for the civilian leadership to keep track of cyber warfare research and development because it is not centralized under a single military or intelligence command. In addition, Behm said that circumstantial evidence suggested that China tolerated individuals or organizations outside the government attempting to hack into foreign computers. "If an 18-year-old hacker sitting in a two-bedroom apartment in Shanghai is able to get into a Pentagon mainframe, he gets a big prize," Behm said. Western military analysts say that Chinese military thinkers have been open about the potential importance of cyber warfare in any future conflict with advanced military powers including the United States. In journals and military publications, Chinese defense analysts have noted that computers are a crucial link in military command, control and intelligence networks. Computers relay communications, control guidance and navigation systems and even form the backbone of complex logistics systems supplying food, fuel and ammunition to military forces. These networks are even more important to militaries like that of the United States, with bases and facilities spread all over the globe. In a conflict, attacking these systems with viruses, false information or intelligence-gathering software could partially offset the considerable U.S. advantage in technology and firepower, Chinese analysts say. They also argue that the U.S. military's reliance on civilian computing and communication networks heightens the vulnerability of these systems to attack. "Chinese strategists claim that computer network attacks are likely to have a high degree of success in disrupting U.S. military operations, in part because military information systems are connected to commercial lines," said a recent Rand Corporation study on Chinese military strategy. But, some analysts note that clumsy or ill-timed efforts to hack into foreign computer networks could be counter-productive. Foreign powers including the United States could tighten computer security and intensify efforts to develop countermeasures, including attacks on Chinese networks. And it could deepen suspicion about the reasons for China's prolonged and rapid military build-up. Double-digit increases in annual military spending over most of the past 15 years have allowed China to deploy increasingly advanced missiles, tanks, warships and strike aircraft while improving the professionalism and training of troops in the world's biggest standing military. Defense spending this year increased by 17.8 percent to about $45 billion, Beijing announced in March, but some foreign military analysts estimate that real military outlays could be three times higher. In what appears to be a response to widespread complaints about a lack of transparency in China's military, Beijing this month allowed two senior visiting U.S. officials what they said was unprecedented access to the Chinese military. Admiral Michael Mullen, the U.S. chief of naval operations, said he was allowed a revealing tour of defense facilities and exercises ahead of a visit by Representative Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat who chairs the House Armed Services Committee. Skelton said that China had been candid about its military capabilities. On Sunday, China announced that it would provide the United Nations with information on its defense spending for the first time in a decade. © 2007 The International Herald Tribune ____________________________________ Visit the InfoSec News Bookstore http://www.shopinfosecnews.org
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