Technology is constantly evolving, and since the conception of the Internet in the late 1950’s much has been done to benefit billions all over the world. Unfortunately, with most information today being stored in computers and other technological devices, it leaves many open to hacking and cyber attacks. Computer hacking is not something new, however, hackers have now taken their talents of cyber espionage to a grander scale.
On December 21, 2011 FoxNews.com published a story about Chinese hackers who breached the computers of four members of The US Chamber of Commerce. The members dealt closely with policies concerning Asia; they weren’t aware that their systems were attacked. The hackers potentially got away with 6 weeks worth of emails involving over 300 addresses before they were shut down in May of 2010. The Chamber’s Chief Operating Officer David Chavern said, “This was clearly somebody very sophisticated, who knew exactly who we are and who targeted specific people and used sophisticated tools to try to gather intelligence.”
The New York Times recently hired a cyber security company called Mandiant, to investigate a ‘sophisticated Chinese-origin attack’ against its servers. After investigating the attacks Mandiant was able to trace the intrusions to one particular neighborhood in China; this neighborhood is home to a 12-story building that is the base for the People’s Liberation Army unit 61389. The origin of the attacks and the location of the P.L.A.’s base seems to be more than coincidence, leading American intelligence to believe that these attacks are direct assaults from the Chinese government.
After Mandiant submitted their extensive 60-page report on the cyber attacks various news outlets gave their spin on the story. According to NBCNews.com the Chinese military stated that they are actually the victims of cyber warfare. They also stated that two of their sites have been attacked over 144,000 times with two-thirds of the attacks coming from American servers. Hong lei a spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign affairs labeled Mandiant’s accusations as ‘unprofessional’ and ‘irresponsible’. Chinese officials feel that these accusations do not help to solve the problem of hacking in general.
Cyber hacking is a new method of warfare; hackers can gain access to important systems and undo a country from the inside out. The evolution of technology has made cyber warfare as significant as more direct forms of combat; nations fear that their entire infrastructure can be debilitated by cyber attacks.
Sources
NBCNews.com
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/china-says-us-based-hackers-target-its-websites-1C8628546
NYTIMES.COM
Foxnews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2011/12/21/chinese-computer-hackers-hit-us-chamber-commerce/
NPR.com
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/02/28/173158072/china-accuses-u-s-of-hacking-military-sites
Huffington post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/bank-cyber-attack-project-blitzkrieg_n_2295882.html
The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323293704578331832012056800.html
