Pentagon Warning: Chinese Recruiting Civilian Hackers to Attack U.S. NetworksAugust 27, 2010

 

The Pentagon warned that the Chinese military, working with civilian computer specialists, is leading cyber and espionage attacks against U.S. companies and government agencies, according to the Boston Globe.

The warning comes as the U.S. and other international powers struggle to improve collaboration, and to set guidelines for thwarting cybercrime. The Pentagon report noted that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is using civilian "information warfare units" to develop viruses to attack military and civilian computer networks.

“The Chinese government, particularly the PLA, has sought to tap into the hacker community and take advantage of it,’’ James Lewis, a cyber security specialist and a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Boston Globe. “One of the things that the Defense Department has been looking for is a way to start signaling potential opponents about activities that might cross the line in cyberspace."

The problem, however, is that it is impossible to track the origination of cyber-attacks and none can be pinned on China. The report notes that an alleged spy ring  based in China called "GhoastNet" pilfered information from about 1,300 computer hard drives from sources as varied as embassies, government offices and the Dalai Lama's exiled Tibetan government, according to the article. Chinese officials, however, continue to deny any involvement.

Civilian hackers give countries like China a way to deny involvement, Jerry Dixon, the former director for the Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Readiness Team, told the Globe. U.S. cyber experts admit that while they might find Chinese code in hacked computers or that they can track intrusions to IP addresses in China, it is close to impossible to connect them to official Chinese policies or the Chinese military.