“Highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored” cyberattack hits Canada Government’s top research organization

Note: Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is in Beijing

A “highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor” recently managed to hack into the computer systems at Canada’s National Research Council, confirms the country’s chief information officer, Corinne Charette.

China Blocks Wall Street Journal’s Chinese Edition

Another major international website has hit the Great Chinese Firewall—this time it’s the Wall Street Journal’s Chinese language edition, and it’s a mystery as to why the site has been blocked.

China Hackers Target Remote Conferencing Devices: Dell Researchers

(Reuters) – A Chinese hacking group tied to the breach of security company RSA two years ago has targeted a maker of audio-visual conference equipment in a likely attempt to tap into boardroom and other high-level remote meetings.

Techie Terms Censored Online in China, Revealed by New Study

China’s surveillance of its citizens’ digital activities is common knowledge. However, questions remain concerning what content is targeted by government censors and how these blacklists change in response to current events.

Significant jump of China’s censorship capabilities before the Anniversary of Tiananmen Square Massacre

Beginning early Friday morning, users of Sina Corp.’s massively popular Weibo microblog were able to search for information about one of the most sensitive incidents in recent Chinese history: the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

In a serious shift of censorship tactics just days ahead of the anniversary of the government’s bloody June 4, 1989 crackdown on protestors in Tiananmen, Sina appears to have begun to allow searches for terms associated with the highly sensitive event. But instead of turning up content related to the incident, searches yield results that have nothing to do with the protests or the government’s heavy-handed response.

U.S. Weapons System Designs Compromised by Chinese Cyberspies, Confidential report says

Designs for many of the nation’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a report prepared for the Pentagon and to officials from government and the defense industry.

Among more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached were programs critical to U.S. missile defenses and combat aircraft and ships, according to a previously undisclosed section of a confidential report prepared for Pentagon leaders by the Defense Science Board.

A List of Compromised U.S. Weapons Designs and Technologies by Chinese Hackers

The following is reproduced from the nonpublic version of the
Defense Science Board report “Resilient Military Systems and the Advanced Cyber Threat”:

Table 2.2 Expanded partial list of DoD system designs and technologies compromised via cyber exploitation

“Dirty little secret”: Chinese Hacker Breaks in Australian Federal Government departments, ABC reports

While debate rages over Australia’s border security, there’s growing evidence that the greatest threat to Australia’s national security potentially comes from foreign computer hackers. Few in government or business will admit the full extent of the break-ins, with one expert calling it a “dirty little secret”.

Next on Four Corners reporter Andrew Fowler reveals that hackers, working from locations overseas, have targeted key Federal Government departments and major corporations in Australia. Their intention is to steal national security secrets and vital business information.

Chinese Hackers Strike Australian Intelligence Agency 2 Months After “strategic partnership” Negotiation

Blueprints for the new headquarters’ (building) of Australia’s intelligence agency, located in the capital of Canberra, have been stolen by Chinese hackers, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The news, which hit hard in Australia on Monday night, comes less than two months after Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard negotiated a “strategic partnership” with the Chinese Communist Party’s new leadership, and a subsequent Defence White Paper was released stating that the People’s Republic of China is no longer seen as a threat.

China Wants To Block “Human Flesh Search Engine”

On May 21st the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) internal magazine “Hong Qi Wen Gao” published an article which stated that “Constitutionalism is a characteristic of Capitalism, not Socialism”. This opinion triggered a public outcry in China, and has become a sitting duck for critics. Someone noticed that another article in the same volume reacted against the “human flesh search engine”, stating that “Human flesh search engine is a type of tyranny by the majority and is an invasion of privacy”. However, some argued that as Chinese civilians are not protected by Constitutionalism, “human flesh search engine” turns out to be their only weapon to supervise the CCP so it should not be taken away.

China’s IP Theft Costs US $300bn a Year, Says Report

Intellectual property theft, predominantly by Chinese computer hackers, costs the US economy $300bn (£200bn) a year and must be treated as seriously as terrorism.

Chinese Hackers Found Sensitive U.S. Government Data on Google Servers

When Chinese hackers breached Google servers in 2010, they were not targeting the Gmail accounts of human rights activists, as the company claimed at the time.

What the hackers were actually after was a database containing years of sensitive information related to U.S. surveillance. Now we have learned that the attack was successful, and the data compromised.

Chinese Hackers Accessed Sensitive Data After Breached Google, U.S. officials say

Chinese hackers who breached Google’s servers several years ago gained access to a sensitive database with years’ worth of information about U.S. surveillance targets, according to current and former government officials.

The breach appears to have been aimed at unearthing the identities of Chinese intelligence operatives in the United States who may have been under surveillance by American law enforcement agencies.

China’s state-sponsored hackers attack US again

Chinese “state-sponsored” hackers have renewed attacks on the US, after a unit of the Chinese army was named in February as the source of many cyber attacks on US companies, a media report said.

According to BBC, cyber-defence company Mandiant told the New York Times daily that the army’s Unit 61398, believed to operate from a heavily guarded building in Shanghai, has recently stepped up its activity.

The company did not name which US agencies and businesses were attacked.

U.S. ‘Losing’ Cyber War, Says House Intelligence Chairman

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the United States is losing the cyberwar with the Chinese government.

“They use their military and intelligence structure to [steal] intellectual property from American businesses, and European businesses, and Asian businesses, repurpose it and then compete in the international market against the United States,” Rogers said.

Experts: China has hacked most of Washington Institutions

WASHINGTON — Start asking security experts which powerful Washington institutions have been penetrated by Chinese cyberspies, and this is the usual answer: almost all of them.

The list of those hacked in recent years includes law firms, think tanks, news organizations, human rights groups, contractors, congressional offices, embassies and federal agencies.

China military unit behind many hacking attacks on U.S., cybersecurity firm says

A shadowy unit of China’s vast army, tucked away in a nondescript office building in the thriving business hub of Shanghai, is behind a huge proportion of the hacking attacks on U.S. websites, according to an American cybersecurity firm.

Mandiant released a detailed 60-page report (PDF) Tuesday claiming its “research and observations indicate that the Communist Party of China is tasking the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to commit systematic cyber espionage and data theft against organizations around the world.”

Clearer Than Ever: Chinese Government’s Link to Cyber Espionage

It has become an article of faith in the information security world that the Chinese government is behind many advanced persistent threats (APTs)—sophisticated, long-term cyber-attacks that target companies for their intellectual property and trade secrets. Expressing the belief is easy, but proving it has been another matter. But one security firm may have the proof.

Security Report: Chinese Military Unit 61398 in Shanghai is Behind US Cyber Attacks

A Virginia-based cyber security firm has released a new report alleging a specific Chinese military unit is likely behind one of the largest cyber espionage and attack campaigns aimed at American infrastructure and corporations.

In the report, released today by Mandiant, China’s Unit 61398 is blamed for stealing “hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations” since 2006, including 115 targets in the U.S. Twenty different industrial sectors were targeted in the attacks, Mandiant said, from energy and aerospace to transportation and financial institutions.

China Is USA’s #1 Cyber Threat: U.S. Govt. Report

A new report by the National Intelligence Estimate confirms that China is America’s biggest cyber threat.

The report is classified, but people with knowledge of the findings spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity.

U.S.- China’s target of massive cyber-espionage campaign

A new intelligence assessment has concluded that the United States is the target of a massive, sustained cyber-espionage campaign that is threatening the country’s economic competitiveness, according to individuals familiar with the report.

The National Intelligence Estimate identifies China as the country most aggressively seeking to penetrate the computer systems of American businesses and institutions to gain access to data that could be used for economic gain.

Drawing lessons from Chinese attacks on US media

Not every media company is as tempting a target for hackers as The New York Times, The Washington Post, or The Wall Street Journal. Not every company can afford high-priced computer security consultants, either. Is there anything that everyday reporters and their editors can learn about protecting themselves, based on the revelatory details the Times and other targets made public last week?

As we wrote at the time, the cyber-attacks on the Times, the Post, and the Journal came as no surprise to foreign reporters working in China or elsewhere who repeatedly face fake emails, custom malware, and hacking attacks on their webmail. But the level of access that the hackers obtained at the Times’ main offices, and the publication of details by their technical advisers, can be instructive.

‘Chinese still hacking us,’ says Wall Street Journal owner

Several U.S. media outlets experienced a massive wave of cyberattacks allegedly coming from the Chinese military over the last few months. While some newspapers have claimed that their networks are now safe, the Wall Street Journal may still be a victim of the online onslaught.

The newspaper’s owner Rupert Murdock tweeted today, “Chinese still hacking us, or were over weekend.”

The Wall Street Journal confirmed last week that it had been the target of cyberattacks in recent months because of its coverage of China. Apparently, hackers infiltrated the newspaper’s computer system through its Beijing bureau in order to monitor the paper’s coverage of the Far East country.