Via telegraph.co.uk -
Hackers with links to China's military were last night accused of waging a long-term campaign to penetrate the computer networks of British government departments.
A day after China denied that it was the hidden hand behind hackers who breached Pentagon security networks in the US, ''cyberwarriors'' acting at the behest of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) were blamed for breaking into networks at the Foreign Office and other departments.
The ''virtual'' attacks on the Pentagon were described yesterday by experts as "a wake-up call" to those in charge of safeguarding the security of British governmental secrets. So-called ''Cyber attacks'' on governmental networks in the UK by Chinese hackers are thought to have been going on for at least four years, according to a report in The Guardian.
The campaign was responsible for an incident last year that shut down part of the House of Commons computer system, according to Whitehall officials.
The House of Commons breach was initially believed to be by an individual, but was discovered to be the work of an organised Chinese hacking group,
Alex Neill, China expert and head of the Asia Security Programme at the Royal United Services Institute, said cyber attacks by the Chinese reflected a new doctrine of the PLA described as "pressure point warfare" - the attacking of specific nodes to leave the adversary paralysed. Meanwhile, a war of words between Beijing and Washington broke out yesterday after China denied US officials' claims that Chinese military hackers had broken into its computers, including that of the defence secretary Robert Gates.
Officials claimed that part of the US defence computer system had to be shut for a week in June after the "cyber-attack". The hackers were said to have been traced to computer addresses that suggested they were part of the People's Liberation Army.
The Chinese government attacked the reports as "groundless".
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Most nations are looking into cyber-defense and cyber-offense, so I guess I can only assume that the Chinese are poor at covering their tracks compared to other nations.
Or, they want us to know it is them...which could be more likely - "pressure point warfare" indeed.
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