China accused of hacking US government computers

by Stevie Smith - Jun 13 2008, 10:12

Having recently been accused of pressuring US hotel chains in China to censor Internet traffic during the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, the Chinese government this week again finds itself the subject of accusations emanating from the United States government -- this time concerning allegations of engaging in computer hacking to secure sensitive information about Chinese dissidents.

U.S. Congressmen accuse China of hacking government computers. Image: Philip Jagenstedt/Flickr.

More pointedly, while speaking from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, congressman Frank Wolf (Rep. Virginia) revealed that four of the computer systems in his personal office had been “compromised by an outside source” in August of 2006.“This source first hacked into the computer of my foreign policy and human rights staff person, then the computers of my chief of staff, my legislative director, and my judiciary staff person,” explained Wolf. “On these computers was information about all of the casework I have done on behalf of political dissidents and human rights activists around the world.”Congressman Wolf went on to say that subsequent meetings with House Information Resources and FBI officials regarding the computer attacks revealed that those responsible were situated within the People’s Republic of China.“These cyber attacks permitted the source to probe our computers to evaluate our system's defenses, and to view and copy information,” he added. “My suspicion is that I was targeted by Chinese sources because of my long history of speaking out about China’s abysmal human rights record.”And it is becoming evident that it’s not just Congressman Wolf and his staff who have been targeted by these computer attacks, with a related Associated Press report also offering that computer systems attributed to Congressman Christopher Smith (Republican, New Jersey) and the House Foreign Affairs Committee were similarly attacked during the same time period.By way of reaction to the accusations, Chinese officials have strongly denied that the country’s citizens were in any way responsible for the computer attacks. According to foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang, the Chinese are not in possession of the technology required to carry out a cyber assault of such sophistication against US government computers.In dismissing the accusations, Qin Gang urged the United States to conduct international relations in a manner more mutually beneficial to both countries rather than via avenues of paranoia and sensationalism.

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US excuse to blame china for a bigger reasonJun 19th, 2008 - 04:55:43

1000% China was not responsible for what has happen. We need to investigate matters more carefully before we accuse others. I believe the us did this for a bigger reason. What purpose could the chinese have of hacking us systems. They might obtain useful info but for what? To make it simple, for example, when you were a kid and got into trouble what do you do? You point the finger at someone else. This is exactly the case. This is an excuse for a great cause. If you dont believe me then wait on and see.

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J BApr 13th, 2009 - 18:23:57

You are wrong. China has been known to have hacking rings nationwide. Although not sponsored by the Government of China, they are still attacking U.S. Federal computer systems. It was in the May 2009 issue of Popular Science. and I just happened to have tried to access whitehouse.gov on the day of the attack. I recieved an error page.

Don't believe people that say Chinese people are innocent. Many are so patriotic, that they see hacking as a way to help the homeland.

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