Beijing denies China hackers attacked Indian govt

CYBER WARS

Google suspects hacking by China staff: report
Beijing (AFP) Jan 19, 2010 - Google is checking whether any of its China staff helped hackers lead a major cyberattack against the US Internet giant, which is now mulling whether to leave the country, a report said Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified sources, said the internal network access of some of Google's 700-odd employees in China had been cut off for the duration of the internal investigation. It was not immediately clear if Google had found evidence to link any of its China-based staff to either the theft of its intellectual property or alleged attempts to access Gmail accounts of Chinese dissidents. Google said Monday it was "business as usual" in China and its employees were at work, after local media reports that some staff had seen their access to Google's global network cut off and could no longer work. The company last week announced it was considering abandoning its Chinese search engine, and could shut its China offices, over theft of its intellectual property by hackers, believed to have been based in China. Google says it is no longer willing to bow to Chinese Internet censors by filtering search results on google.cn, but is still seeking talks with Beijing on a solution. The United States has asked for an explanation from Beijing over the Google dispute. China says the row will not affect Sino-US ties, but has also insisted that Google and other foreign Internet firms must obey its laws. The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China said Monday that expatriate journalists in a "few" bureaus in Beijing had discovered that their Gmail accounts had been hacked, with messages forwarded to a stranger's account.

by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Jan 19, 2010
China on Tuesday rejected reports that Indian government computers had been attacked by Chinese hackers as "groundless", one week after US Internet giant Google made a similar accusation.

A source in the office of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confirmed an attempted hacking to AFP last Friday, but said nothing had been compromised.

The origin of the cyber attack was unknown at this stage, the source said, but daily newspaper Mail Today reported that China was the chief suspect.

"I can say that these accusations are groundless," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters, declaring that China itself was the "biggest victim" of hacking activities.

"The Chinese government is firmly against hacking activities and will deal with relevant cases in accordance with the law," he said.

In an interview published Monday, India's national security adviser, M. K. Narayanan, confirmed his office and other government departments were targeted with an email with a PDF attachment that contained a "Trojan" virus.

The email, which Indian authorities suspect came from China, would allow a hacker to access a computer remotely and download or delete files.

"This was not the first instance of an attempt to hack into our computers," Narayanan told The Times of London.

"People seem to be fairly sure it was the Chinese. It is difficult to find the exact source but this is the main suspicion. It seems well founded," he said.

The official from the Indian prime minister's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several attempts had been made in the past to hack government computers through "various means".

The accusations came after Google said it was considering whether to leave China after it suffered a major cyberattack by hackers believed to be based in the country.

When asked if Google had contacted the Chinese government to hold talks on the matter, Ma said: "I'm not aware of the situation."

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CYBER WARS

Google attacks put spotlight on global cyber espionage
Washington (AFP) Jan 17, 2010
Cyberattacks on Google and other firms are part of a shadowy campaign in cyberspace being waged by China and other nations which goes largely undetected, according to Web security experts and analysts. "China is not the only place to engage in this kind of espionage, but they are certainly busy," said James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies ... read more

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