[ISN] China Targets U.S. Computers For Espionage, Report Warns

From: InfoSec News <alerts_at_private>
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:22:17 -0600 (CST)
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212101227

By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
November 20, 2008 

Chinese cyberattacks on civilian, government, and military networks are 
rising, a congressional advisory committee warned in a report released 
Thursday, and the United States needs to bolster its defenses and engage 
with allies and Chinese authorities to clarify the consequences of 
aggression in cyberspace.

"China is targeting U.S. government and commercial computers for 
espionage," says the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review 
Commission's (USCC) 2008 Annual Report to Congress. "Alan Paller from 
the SANS Institute, an Internet security company, believes that in 2007 
the 10 most prominent U.S. defense contractors, including Raytheon, 
Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, were victims of 
cyberespionage through penetrations of their unclassified networks."

Citing examples of Chinese espionage, the report looks back to 2005 at 
an incident in which hackers from China stole files related to NASA's 
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that detailed the space vehicle's propulsion 
system, solar panels, and fuel tanks. It also cites an incident that 
same year in which the aviation mission planning system for Army 
helicopters and related software were stolen from the Army Aviation and 
Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.

More recent examples abound. On Nov. 18, Quan-Sheng Shu, a Chinese-born 
scientist who worked in Virginia, pleaded guilty to selling U.S. 
military rocket technology to China.

[...]


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Received on Fri Nov 21 2008 - 00:22:17 PST

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