Chinas government caught hacking everyones computer systems

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by cosmictraveler, Aug 3, 2011.

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  1. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    Late last week, Bloomberg ran a story announcing ‘China-Based Spies Said To Be Behind Hacking in Investigators' View’:

    ‘Investigators probing the recent ransacking of International Monetary Fund computers have concluded the attack was carried out by cyber spies connected to China, according to two people close to the investigation.’

    The article went on to provide general details about why:

    Evidence pointing to China includes an analysis of the attack methods, as well as the electronic trail left by hackers as they removed large quantities of documents from the IMF’s computers. The multistaged attack, which used US-based servers as part of their equipment, ended on May 31, people involved in the investigation said on the condition they not be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak about it.’

    The report added that the analysis included ‘analysing the code left behind in networks and tracing patterns in multiple attacks that may use the same infrastructure.’ This sounded to me like the automated analysis performed by something like HB Gary’s ‘Digital DNA.’ The problem with that solution, and others like it, is that while it can analyse commonalities in the tools used, as well as the malware code, it can’t discern the nationality of the hackers responsible, and certainly not the nation state that may have engaged them.


    http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...AFkSG_KN6AYECOG4g&sig2=JWoLIG69KwycD9WdqD61aQ


    •January 14- U.S. warns on China cyber, anti-satellite capability -“Advances by China’s military in cyber and anti-satellite warfare technology could challenge the ability of U.S. forces to operate in the Pacific, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday during a visit to Japan.

    •February 4- China Attacks British Government Computers – William Hague told a security conference in Munich that the FO repelled the attack last month from “a hostile state intelligence agency”. Although the foreign secretary did not name the country behind the attacks, intelligence sources familiar with the incidents made it clear he was referring to China. The sources did not want to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

    •February 9- Oil Firm Hit by Hackers From China Report Says - Western energy firms have been targeted in cyber espionage attacks, apparently orchestrated by hackers working from inside China, the Wall Street Journal reports.

    http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...qAsAnnoeN8fryz2qw&sig2=VPbfinbtxydIKpwak1GXaw
     
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  3. Grim_Reaper I Am Death Destroyer of Worlds Registered Senior Member

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    Yeah the Chinese have ben knocking on my door for a while now so far they have not gotten and answer.
     
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  5. Gustav Banned Banned

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    it really seems like the chinese are preparing to attack the west
    we must do something about this

    /angry
     
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  7. Grim_Reaper I Am Death Destroyer of Worlds Registered Senior Member

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    Well what are we to do they could collectively fart and gas half the earth there are just tomany of them. And well they need resources best way to get them is to steal them.
     
  8. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    China reported losing Billions to Rogue Chinese businessmen that defected, perhaps they are just trying to find where there money went and who laundered it.
     
  9. joepistole Deacon Blues Valued Senior Member

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    It sounds like Ruppert Murdoch and company have something in common with the chinese government.
     
  10. Michael 歌舞伎 Valued Senior Member

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    It's not like the USA doesn't have it's fun hacking... remember crashing the Iranians centrifuges? That was illegal and the US had no legal right to invade their computer system with a virus.
     
  11. Pinwheel Banned Banned

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    Yeah but dem Chinese are da Communists.
     
  12. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    While I agree with you it's not quite the same thing. The Chinese were spying on what countries were doing to find ways to take advantage somehow or watch what they were doing in business dealings and money movements. America was trying to stop a country from building a atomic bomb that could be used against many innocent people. That to me is a very big difference and if you cannot see that then now you do.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2011
  13. Grim_Reaper I Am Death Destroyer of Worlds Registered Senior Member

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    Right wrong or indifferent hacking is hackking and is illegal no matter what the reason or the cause. Unless it is sectioned by the entity that is being hacked AKA pen testing. There is no good reason to hack into any one elses pc it is like saying it is ok to steal as long as it benefits the innocent and protected.
     
  14. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    Again I agree with you however there are many people out there that do not think like us. They only want to steal, cheat, rob, take and extort anything they can and anyway they can. Knowing that there are others out there doing this sort of thing you must try to prevent them from doing anything to you or to others. The way to do that is to hack into their systems to find out what they are doing so that anti virus measures can be made.
     
  15. Grim_Reaper I Am Death Destroyer of Worlds Registered Senior Member

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    Well this is true but it does not make it right for a country to deliberatly try and destroy anothers infrastructure. Especially when the device they use is able to be ported to other types of control systems. I work in an envinronment that has multiple control systems that were not effected do to measure we took once we knew what was going on. But it could have been a diasaster if any of the control systems went down there could have been thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people effected because one country wanted to bugger with another countries systems. I have no problem with a country declaring war on another fior the protection of the greater good but when it comes to computer systems people need to be far more carful as to what they do.
     
  16. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    But those systems are the ones that wars are all about. If you could knock out another countries total defense system then you would have a great advantage over them if and when you ever did attack them. So it would be advisory that you know exactly how another countries system works and be able to nullify it somehow. But if you never know what the other country is up to then you could be the one who gets knocked out first and that's what wars are all about, winning , not losing by being unprepared.
     
  17. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    Name me a government that isn't like that. All the coldwar bollocks cause this sort of abuse of power, most of these countries do need a house cleaning, perhaps an entirely different viewpoint on governance, perhaps letting people think for themselves rather than those elite few screwing everyone to make a buck.
     
  18. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    You are correct but it seems that Grim Reaper doesn't understand it.
     
  19. Grim_Reaper I Am Death Destroyer of Worlds Registered Senior Member

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    Oh I understand it all I am saying is it is not right that they do such things. And no one government is above the law or rather they should not be.
     
  20. CptBork Valued Senior Member

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    If the Chinese government is employing internet hacking as a tool for political suppression or financial manipulation, it shouldn't be terribly difficult to cut most of them off from the web altogether, ban their ISP's from all international connections as well as the ISP's of any country which tries to help them circumvent it. Dig up or snip all the fibre optic cables, if need be. Their government doesn't want them freely browsing the web anyhow, just the parts which keep them entertained enough to not protest the bourgeois hoarders who appointed themselves as the "peoples' representatives".

    I think it could be done and should be done, but won't be done because there are too many pigs with their fingers in the pie, too many profits to forgo. Besides, I'm sure plenty of foreign governments hack the Chinese all the time, so it's ok to keep those connection pipelines open to the international community as long as they serve some reciprocal benefit.
     
  21. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    Now that's a funny way of dealing with it. For years people have complained about the amount of control the Chinese government installs over it's people through monitoring and attempting to block them off from accessing the internet freely.

    You are pretty much stating we should cut them off the internet, which is against the Civil Right that people have been protesting over. In essence if they wanted to firewall their country from the outside world, you've proven they just have to be crooked.
     
  22. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    But they have traced the wrong doers to a certain pathway which could be blocked. They don't need to block every single pathway but only those they find causing problems.
     
  23. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    True, however a wrong doer in this instance is likely to be using proxies, perhaps even people that don't even know they are a party to it. Namely a botnet. Which means a bunch of legitimate people suffer because of a trojan.

    You have to remember that if you claim 5% of any population is criminal, the Chinese outnumber Americans 4 to 1 (and Brits 21 to 1)
     
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