This article discusses the recent Chinese computer hackings of both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The Chinese Hackers apparently infiltrated and stole the passwords of employees for the two newspapers in order to monitor their coverage of China. While the Chinese Ministry of National Defense denies any involvement in these or any other hacking incidences, the Wall Street Journal claims that this has been an ongoing issue and is working with authorities to clean its system and prevent future hacking attempts. Other news outlets such as Bloomberg have reported similar occurrences as well.
The AP reports that the Obama administration is considering more authoritative action against the Chinese government to prevent future hacking campaigns. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton recently stated that international “rules of the road” need to be established in a worldwide effort to prevent cyber-attacks, as the Chinese aren’t the only one’s guilty of such activity.
Some other major hacks that China has been alleged of, between 2006 and 2011:
– The Pentagon (2007)
– The UN
– NASA (2011)
– Lockheed Martin (2009)
– Google (2010)
– The New York Times
– International Olympic Committee
– Coca-Cola (2009)
There are sources saying some of these major hacks have been traced back to IP addresses in China. And yes, in each of the cases, China has a lot to gain through the hacks. But would someone (or some organization), for example, who could gain “full functional control” over Nasa’s robots in space, just leave its IP address traceable to its original location?
Source: Google boss Schmidt labels China an ‘IT menace’
And as NPR was quick to point out, US intelligence agencies have access to internet switches and otherwise can be presumed to be playing the same game, plus our side leaked stories of the sabotage of Iranian uranium processing plants. In addition, because of censorship I suspect there’s a fairly sophisticated hacker culture in China, leaving traces of your IP address sounds like trying to claim bragging rights.
I am not surprised at all by the recent events. I previously did a post of how a couple of the James Bond Skyfall scenes were omitted in the Chinese version. This is similar but instead of movie scenes, it’s news. One interesting repercussion is how much media attention that has resulted from the hacking. Now there is an obvious light shining in on the fact that China is trying to censor its citizens. A Guardian article focused on the issue and a correspondent of the Wall Street Journal responded: “a blistering commentary in the paper added: “Whatever else the Chinese thought they were doing by hacking us, they didn’t stop the publication of a single article. Now they have only magnified their embarrassment … Perhaps they will now try to deny us travel visas, harass our journalists or otherwise interfere with our business in China.”
Bloomberg, The New York Times and the Washington Post have also recently been targeted by Chinese hackers. Now that the issue is so prominent I think the papers will continue to monitor and make it known when there is a hacking attempt. Although the hacker was unsuccessful in the attempt I wonder how often they are successful and how that has changed what news is relayed in China.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/feb/06/rupert-murdoch-chinese-hackers-journal