HU's Chinese Hackers Attack the U.S.

In the never ending saga of Chinese Hackers attacking the U.S. we get another news story. Yet, for all the concern over what the Chinese are doing to our infrastructure, the popular media is more likely to cover stories on who Fathered Anna Nicole's baby. Why this would be more important than a foreign government attack the U.S. is beyond me. I can see it now, once the Chinese take over the U.S. they will import their brand of law... how many Americans will get their livers harvested for being Christians? Unbelievable!!!!!!

Security News
20 February 2007

Attacks by Chinese hackers on US military computer infrastructure have reached the level of sustained cyber-warfare, and are likely to be government-backed, a senior US Navy official said last week.

"They will exploit anything and everything," the official said, according to the report. The attacks are so deliberate that "it's hard to believe it's not government-driven".

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Defence admitted its systems have been penetrated at least nine times since 2002, with five of the successful attacks taking place last year.

Beginning in 2003, US defence agencies have been the target of a series of intrusions, code-named Titan Rain, that was traced to a team of researchers in Guangdong Province. Titan Rain was first reported publicly in 2005

Chinese Penetration of American National Assets

China continues it's covert operations against American interests; America Sleeps, Hands tied.

Chinas Secret Weapon
February 16, 2007:

The U.S. government has a growing problem with China's covert Cyber War against the United States. ...the action out of China is looking for military and technological secrets, data on how American military networks operate.

There are also attempts to plant special "time bomb" software that could be used in wartime. China is quite open about its intention to use surprise and deception in any future war with the United States.

So what does the U.S. government do, as the evidence against the Chinese builds up? No public statements are being made, but it is known that American Cyber War forces are studying the Chinese attacks carefully, nosing around in China as well, and preparing new Cyber War weapons.

At the same time, current laws prohibit many Cyber War techniques needed to thoroughly track enemy attacks (wiretaps, privacy and all that). So the Chinese move forward with their not-so-secret secret plan for making war via the Internet.

Chinese Assassin's Mace

Another surprisingly quite fact about the Chinese Military and Chinese Intelligence: They are knee deep in the U.S. critical infrastructure and electronic backbone. The threat may no longer be from outside, but what they have left inside. Think of it as a front company within the U.S. electronic system. There is sits, working fine...seemingly a normal bit of software until the Mother-ship calls upon it to begin destroying U.S. networks. You can almost hear the clock ticking...tic..tic..tic.

Published on Feb. 13, 2007

NORFOLK, Va. -- At the Naval Network Warfare Command here, U.S. cyber defenders track and investigate hundreds of suspicious events each day. But the predominant threat comes from Chinese hackers, who are constantly waging all-out warfare against Defense Department networks, Netwarcom officials said.

Attacks coming from China, probably with government support, far outstrip other attackers in terms of volume, proficiency and sophistication, said a senior Netwarcom official, who spoke to reporters on background Feb 12. The conflict has reached the level of a campaign-style, force-on-force engagement, he said.

The motives of Chinese hackers run the gamut, including technology theft, intelligence gathering, exfiltration, research on DOD operations and the creation of dormant presences in DOD networks for future action, the official said.

Chinese hackers were responsible for an intrusion in November 2006 that disabled the Naval War College’s network, forcing the college to shut down its e-mail and computer systems for several weeks, the official said. Forensic analysis showed that the Chinese were seeking information on war games in development at NWC, the official said.

Chinese Attack: Is this the work of Chinese Intelligence?

What's really going on here? The average Chinese citizen cannot move about the Internet without strict monitoring. Anyone attempting to hack from within China will immediately catch the attention of the CHICOM's great Firewall. Yet, we see unrelenting cyber attacks on sensitive U.S. computer systems. How could this be? The AVERAGE citizen is restricted from such activities, but those granted permission to attack the U.S. are given free access. Who can grant a person or group access around the firewall? Who has the ability to get around the firewall? The CCP of course....the question is: who in the Chinese government is behind the well planned and directed attack: Chinese Military, Chinese Intelligence, Chinese Cyber Army?????

APPSENSE SECURITY

The cyber attacks on the Critical National Infrastructures of the US and UK, originating from inside China have hit the headlines again. This time they appear to be targeted against one specific agency within the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). The BIS is involved in the regulation of the export of sensitive goods and technologies as well as enforcing export control and anti-boycott laws. The targeting of this organization is in some ways not surprising, it is responsible for the prevention of the exportation of military technology to China.

The exact method used for this attack has not been publicised, but there have been strong suggestions that this involved carefully researched e-mails and possibly Trojans. This involved the Chinese group sending e-mails apparently from internal e-mail address to various government employees. The subject and content of these mails were deliberately chosen. The careful research mentioned above allowed the mails to be targeted in such a way that the victim would be more inclined to trust the mail and any attachment to it.

The same method of researched e-mails would also work if malicious websites were being used to exploit some vulnerability in Internet Explorer, as was seen recently with the VML based exploitation. There have been reports of Web sites registered on Chinese Internet service providers hosting malware with Rootkit capabilities. It is likely that this is true as the BSI has admitted that they are not attempting to repair any computers perceived to be infected. Instead wholly new machines are being used to replace these.

This is the latest in a long line of attempts to spy on other areas of the Government and infrastructure which were traced back to China. The, so called, Titan Rain attacks used some similar techniques as did the attack on the United Kingdom government at the start of 2006. This one used the, at the time, unpatched vulnerability in WMF rendering. This involved e-mails containing information apparently about a secret rendezvous being sent to around 70 members of the UK parliament as well as other staff in the British Government.


The levels of complexity and preparation involved in these attacks may mean they are the first things to warrant the, massively over hyped, name of cyber warfare.

U.S. Friend or Enemy?

Every time I read something about a cyber security risk, hack, or intrusion I can count on it originating from one place: China. Seems like every report out there details ties to Chinese security forces who are either attacking critical U.S. infrastructure or worse, stealing critical U.S. technology.

US, China behind two-thirds of computer security threats( AFP)Updated: 2007-01-23 08:48
WASHINGTON - The United States and China host nearly two-thirds of spam, viruses and other computer security threats delivered around the world in 2006.

Computer security firm Sophos said 31 percent of the so-called malware last year originated from China.

washingtonpost.com

Hackers Attack Via Chinese Web Sites: U.S. Agencies' Networks Are Among Targets

Web sites in China are being used heavily to target computer networks in the Defense Department and other U.S. agencies, successfully breaching hundreds of unclassified networks, according to several U.S. officials.

"The scope of this thing is surprisingly big," said one of four government officials who spoke separately about the incidents.

It's not just the Defense Department but a wide variety of networks that have been hit," including the departments of State, Energy and Homeland Security as well as defense contractors, the official said. "This is an ongoing, organized attempt to siphon off information..."

Network attack disables Naval War College

Computer and e-mail systems are off-line at the Naval War College following a network intrusion Nov. 15. After the attack, the Defense Department raised its information warfare awareness level to Information Condition (Infocon) 4.

According to a news report, Chinese hackers are responsible for the attack. One professor told his class Nov. 27 that they took down the entire college network, the report states.

Chinese attacks on DOD systems are far more widespread than is publicly known, Paller said, but almost all attacks remain classified. “The problem is thousands of times bigger than what you hear,” he said.