Chinese Hackers Break In U.S. Military and Government Systems: Is This War?

China's action on U.S. soil can be construed as warfare....not the kind we think of from the movies. Rather, China is practicing a new kind of warfare, and soft, covert, and unrestricted warfare. While America sleeps to news of drug ridden supermodels, Chinese Black Operations are rendering the U.S. Defenseless. When will the U.S. Respond?

News Factor
The fact that hackers are directly breaking into military and government computers spotlights the soft underbelly in U.S. cybersecurity. The attacks also underline the need for the federal government to develop policies that define responsibilities between the public and private sectors to fend off hackers and terrorists, say military officials.

Chinese hackers were most likely behind an intrusion in November that disabled the Naval War College's network, forcing it to disconnect from the Internet for several weeks, says Lt. Cmdr. Doug Gabos, a spokesman for the Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command in Norfolk, Va.

Forensic analysis indicates the hackers may have sought information on war games in development at the naval college, he said. The college was vulnerable because it did not have the latest security protections, Gabos said.

The November attack was part of an ongoing campaign by Chinese hackers to penetrate government computers.

THE PRC IS BLOCKING BLOGS AGAIN: SHAME ON HU!!

The Chinese government began blocking access to the popular blogging site LiveJournal on Friday, cutting off its citizens from the roughly 1.8 million blogs the service hosts.

The timing of the block coincides with the National People's Congress meeting in Beijing, says Xiao Qiang, a Chinese dissident and founder of the China Digital Times.

(BLOGGERS COMMENT: China Digital Times is an excellent site, CFA readers are encouraged to visit it... at the link above).

While China has reached an accord with some blog hosting companies, including Microsoft's MSN Spaces, it has a history of blocking others, including Google's Blogger.com.

So COVER FOR ACTION is blocked, how can we get our message into China?

"For whatever reason (if) you've been blocked, it's almost impossible to get open again," says Xiao. "It could be one of the blogs in Livejournal has the content they want to block. They are very bluntly over-blocking sites."

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.

What is China Planning for the U.S.?

By in large Americans remain blind to the Chinese threat. While the CHICOM military ratchets up rhetoric about how to beat the U.S., paints U.S. Satellites with lasers, and launches and armed sub to stalk the U.S. Fleet, American remains on a honeymoon cloud, sipping on the sweet wine of economic benefit. Blinded by financial gain, we appear to be so financially intoxicated that the CHICOMS growing threat to our National Security has become an after thought. What is China planning for the U.S.?

Asia Times














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A noted Chinese theorist on modern warfare, Chang Mengxiong, compared China's form of fighting to "a Chinese boxer with a keen knowledge of vital body points who can bring an opponent to his knees with a minimum of movements". It is like key acupuncture points in ancient Chinese medicine. Puncture one vital point and the whole anatomy is affected. If America ever goes to war with China, say, over Taiwan, then America should be prepared for the following "acupuncture points" in its anatomy to be "punctured". Each of the vital points can bring America to its knees with a minimum of effort.

I Electro-magnetic Pulse (EMP) attack
An EMP attack will damage all electrical grids on the US mainland. It will disable computers and other similar electronic devices with microchips. Most businesses and industries will shut down. The entire US economy will practically grind to a halt. Satellites within line of sight of the EMP burst will also be damaged, adversely affecting military command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR).

2 Cyber attack
China's new concept of a "people's war" includes IT warriors coming, not only from its military more than 2-million strong, but from the general citizenry of some 1.3 billion people. If we add the hackers and information warriors from Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria and other countries sympathetic to China, the cyber attack on the US would be formidable indeed. So, if a major conflict erupts between China and America, more than a few dozen laptops will be engaged to hack America's military establishment; banking system; stock exchange; defense industries; telecommunication system; power grids; water system; oil and gas pipeline system; air traffic and train traffic control systems; C4ISR system, ballistic missile system, and other systems that prop up the American way of life.

3 Interdiction of US foreign oil supply
A single blow from Iran or China or Russia, or a combination of the three at the Strait of Hormuz can paralyze America. In addition, Chinese and Russian submarines can stop the flow of oil to the US and Japan by interdicting oil tanker traffic coming from the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. On the other hand, US naval supremacy will have minimal effect on China's oil supply because it is already connected to Kazakhstan with a pipeline and will soon be connected to Russia and Iran as well. One wonders: what will be the price of oil if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz. It will surely drive oil prices sky high. Prolonged high oil prices can, in turn, trigger inflation in the US and a sharp decline of the dollar, possibly even a dollar free-fall. The collapse of the dollar will have a serious impact on the entire US economy.

4 Attack on the US dollar
China is now the biggest holder of foreign exchange reserves in the world, accumulating $941 billion as of June 30 and expected to exceed a trillion dollars by the end of 2006 - a first in world history. A decision by China to shift a major portion of its reserve to the euro or the yen or gold could trigger other central banks to follow suit. Nobody would want to be left behind holding a bag full of dollars rapidly turning worthless. The herd psychology would be very difficult to control in this case because national economic survival would be at stake.

5 Diplomatic isolation
The US-led war in Iraq was a tactical victory for the US initially, but has resulted in strategic defeat overall. The Iraq war caused the US to lose its principal allies in Europe and be isolated, despised and hated in many parts of the world. Without too many friends and allies, the US is likened to an "emperor with no clothes". So in a major conflict between America and China, isolated America cannot possibly win against a global united front led by China and Russia.

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.