Hackers: the China Syndrome

I'll bet you the Defense Dept. didn't fore-see this when they developed the Internet.

By the way, Scott Henderson's blog is titled: The Dark Visitor, and a link to it is as follows:
www.thedarkvisitor.com

As an avid computer hobbyist I've considered this, and even worried about this possibility for years. The indications are there, and have been for a long time now that this was and will happen, but cyber-security was never a hot issue for Washington (i.e. It didn't bring in votes for those in power,) now we find ourselves much in the same predicament as we did in the late 30's, with America facing a long hard climb up the technology ladder to become equal to the rest of the world in those resources with a war looming on the horizon. Can we respond in time, can we come up with some sort of Cyber-Manhattan project to save the day? Only time will truly tell. In many ways the infrastructure of the defense of our nation may well be in place. We have hackers here in the US as they do In china, or whatever nation you wish to name. The question is will our hackers lie down and let the rest of the world run them over when attacks from outside our nation destroy the very infrastructure they use to "do their thing?" or will they respond back with a digital-age version of the golden rule. "Do unto them what they would do onto us, only do it first." I can only hope when the crisis begins these Americans find patriotism to step up and pight back, and defend their home.

Totally Bushit

lnwolf41 as is usally the case, the US is bogged down in the 90's as far as new technology is concer. We are arrogant in our complancey of being ahead of everyone eles.
When in fact we are sadly behind the world in changing to newer, safer, better tech. One prime example is the "new"
3G phones being sold in the U.S.,they have been widely used in japan and other asian countries for years. The Apple store which everyone thinks is great,agan Japan has had this type of store for all of its electronics and computers long before Apple.
This is a good article, but why did we tell all those hackers in china that, "I SEE YOU". now they know were looking for them they have gone underground,and tthough maybe our military might be better protected I doubt that our public utilities will be improved. It's still 40 years out of date and I don't see it changing within the next 10 years and if it does it will still be behind the times.

This may be basic training for us. If we can cope with it in a civil situation, we may be able to defend ourselves in a serious hostile situation.

Speaking as an amateur, maybe websites could be set to accept only 1 entry request per minute, or to identify the source before entering. (Your computer sends a number providing its ID, so that might be denied 2 entries in an hour.) And then there are those fuzzy numbers you have to copy to verify you're not a machine.

If it's important enough, and if it's possible, we have the talent to create the defenses we need.

Is it possible that in addition to alllowing this cyber-terrorism, that the Chinese government is actually teaching people that they should hack America?

This type of attacking was inevitable. In a technological age, this hacking is bound to become more and more frequent, especially with all the conflict between the U.S. and the Middle-East. The chinks need to grow some testicles and quit hiding behind their screens. They just might push this too far and end up getting a nuclear warhead shoved up their communistic asses.

"People think of quantum cryptography as a distant possibility," said Chip Elliott, a principal scientist at BBN Technologies and leader of its quantum engineering team, in a statement.

"But the Darpa Quantum Network is up and running today underneath Cambridge [Massachusetts]. BBN has built a set of high-speed, full-featured quantum cryptography systems and has woven them together into an extremely secure network."

Quantum computing provides near-invulnerable encryption that cannot be eavesdropped upon. Encryption keys are sent via a pattern of single polarised photons and can be changed 100 times per second.

The method is also spy proof, since any third-party observation of the photons changes their properties.

BBN Technologies helped develop the initial backbone of the internet, Arpanet, and developed the first network email. The company is currently involved with developing quantum communications systems for satellites.

@AMP13: Way to play the stereotypical American bigot, that's the kind of attitude that breeds the current pandemic-level Anti-Americanist opinions of a not trivial population of the world. Yea a few dodgy characters may be doing some less than playnice things, but by slinging racist slurs you alienate not only the innocent Chinese population that peacefully goes about their day to day life, but also the Chinese American Nationals that make up a fair chunk of the American population.

(Liberty) cries with silent lips "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!". From what your saying, it seems that what Liberty actually said was "Give me your tired, your poor, and when any of their brothers cause me grief, I'll slander their entire nationality and treat them with spite and malice".

Before anyone slam me, I'm aware the bigotry isn't a national constant, and I'm also aware the hate isn't exclusive to America, I'm just trying to make a point.

So drop the tough guy act AMP13, the only viable (And sane) way America can defend itself against cyber-threats is with cyber-defences...remember China is Nuclear Capable as well.

I'd say that, moving forward, private and government systems that (reasonably) do not need to be accessed remotely should be as isolated as possible. It's not likely that any amount of money will be able to to tool up the cyber-warefare capabilities of the US to match the Chinese outfits in any relatively short time frame, so at least try to limit the potential damage while they play catch-up.

"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." -- Nikola Tesla

I detest Nationalism. Chinese, Russians everyone alike. Nationalism in my opinion is why these countries have so many problems. Europe is terrible.. everyone you meet doesn't say their European but Spanish, French, etc. Everyone gets hung up on their culture, identity, and competition with other countries. China has so many problems i can even start to count. I personally believe in 'globalisation' and a united world government, idealism lol.

These hackers are college kids that may and may not be supported by the Chinese government. They can't be prosecuted or extradited. I personally think Americans should hold the Chinese government accountable and pressure them economically. Tell them we will aggressively target Chinese national hackers and hold the Chinese government themselves responsible for acts done by their citizens. I can't imagine a hacker that will deface U.S. property with the threat that Walmart will move their business to India. The Chinese have everything to lose by angering the U.S.

is a shame hackers exist today or maybe in the future you see the problem of the many the US government has and maybe others is the lack of a more advance software and of course the use of a operating system like Microsoft which is easily hacked

lets believe the government has another OS but the many companies and other institutions that use OS windows are in danger because of the complete control Microsoft created

the problem with almost one OS is like a human who is only protected by medicine and has never get a virus

one day because of the over confidence and since your system is not prepare gets sick

the same happens with the OS Microsoft that is many US companies and maybe I don't think so but inside the government which is REALLY STUPID but lets not think that

the codes of this OS well are always hacked because of being like the one and for hackers this makes their jobs easy

I hope the US government change tactics use a better or change their OS with a different computer code

AND PLS DON'T PUBLISHED like you do with the way of creating better money SOMETHINGS MUST KEEP SECRET FOR THE GOOD OF THE NATION and above all the people

And do like Europe take action with Microsoft to reduce his overpower in order to have more OS system around like a variety to make harder the job for hackers

and well this sounds rude but they are chinese people in US that don't like the communist goverment of China so use them as spies as another way to investigate this

and last catch up china they always first in everything they do technologically

athou id love to see cina get a neclare warhead upo the ass i am concernd that they might take controle of our missale networks and encriptions can only take us so far still if its on the internet it can be hacked
i call for an internet revolution
all american hackers unite and wage war on the chinese
i think the first step to this war is to gain access to the chineese the way they have gained accese to us
so before we shuve a warhead up thire ass we have to stop them from doing the same

ps before we do that lets see if we cant get some designs for their tolets

There's a nice interview with the author, Mara Hvistendahl, regarding this story and reporting it, you can find here:

www.shanghaiscrap.com/?p=2825

It adds some nice details that aren't in the original story.

These hackers need to grow up. All countries spy on each other, INCLUDING CHINA. Your fighter pilot died and that's a sad thing. However, we're your biggest customer and you should leave the politics to your leaders.

The downside to this? Someday you're going to want to sell me software. And, knowing how you all feel about me, I'm going to avoid Chinese software like the Swine Flu. While I'm at it, can I really be sure that a couple of ultra nationalists haven't inserted sleeper code into the firmware of the laptop they made?

Let me know how that works out for you...

Lulz I'm sure the NSA has the goods on china and everyone else for that matter. We don't deface there websites but just quietly gather up all we want and remain unnoticed in a controlled and organized way.

what i dont understand is how them chinese can have nationalism for such a shitty country.

Many Western communications companies are buying cheap gear from Huawei. their CEO is a former high ranking officer of the Chinese Intelligence service. Here is what the Times of London had to say recently.

"INTELLIGENCE chiefs have warned that China may have gained the capability to shut down Britain by crippling its telecoms and utilities.
They have told ministers of their fears that equipment installed by Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant, in BT’s new communications network could be used to halt critical services such as power, food and water supplies.
The warnings coincide with growing cyber warfare attacks on Britain by foreign governments, particularly Russia and China."

If you would like to see first hand what that article is referring to, follow these simple instructions anyone can follow.

go to ---> www.google.com/translate

Make sure that the tabs on the bottom read Chinese to English, for those of you who can't read Chinese characters.

in the box provided type ---> 05112.com
[Make sure it has a www. in front of it. for those of you who know html and understand site linking, I don't want to link these two sites. For many reasons.]

Google translate will then work some voodoo and poof, you will be able to view one of their news and instructional sites. Most of these hackers are young and seem quite focused in their efforts. Explore till your hearts content, all thanks to google.

The commission report cited vulnerable American targets such as the electric grid...

The only way to get to the electric grid is from a dedicated IP using a specific port opened in their firewall. The only way that this is possible is for someone to have a "spy" working for a SCADA group for whatever company controls whatever part of the grid that you are accessing. That is not hacking it is espionage. Liberal arts majors really need to stop reporting on technical issues.

asians are going to dominate the internet

I'm not surprised this is going on, kids are always trying to impress people. A computer is a whole lot more powerful weapon than most people would give it credit to be. That's technology for you.

"This letter is not meant for publication, although you can publish it if you wish. It is meant specifically for you, the editor, not the public.

I am a hacker. That is to say, I enjoy playing with computers — working with, learning about, and writing clever computer programs. I am not a cracker; I don't make a practice of breaking computer security.

There's nothing shameful about the hacking I do. But when I tell people I am a hacker, people think I'm admitting something naughty — because newspapers such as yours misuse the word “hacker”, giving the impression that it means “security breaker” and nothing else. You are giving hackers a bad name.

The saddest thing is that this problem is perpetuated deliberately. Your reporters know the difference between “hacker” and “security breaker”. They know how to make the distinction, but you don't let them! You insist on using “hacker” pejoratively. When reporters try to use another word, you change it. When reporters try to explain the other meanings, you cut it.

Of course, you have a reason. You say that readers have become used to your insulting usage of “hacker”, so that you cannot change it now. Well, you can't undo past mistakes today; but that is no excuse to repeat them tomorrow.

If I were what you call a “hacker”, at this point I would threaten to crack your computer and crash it. But I am a hacker, not a cracker. I don't do that kind of thing! I have enough computers to play with at home and at work; I don't need yours. Besides, it's not my way to respond to insults with violence. My response is this letter.

You owe hackers an apology; but more than that, you owe us ordinary respect."
I've never found something that as eloquent as this letter from The Jargon File, which can be found by Googling it (I was going to link, but I don't know how good your anti-spam URL detector is, so I'm not going to tempt it).

Why not "Hack Back"? Give them a little taste of their own medicine?

To senethior459:

To "hack" implies cutting into something. If you just enjoy tinkering with code and are truly not malicious, then you are a programer. Do you prefer to call yourself a "hacker" because it makes you feel all bad ass? The average person makes a marked distinction between hacking and programing. Your use of the term "cracker" might mean something to some small slice of the population, but not to the rest of us. Hacking, to us, is exactly the same as vandalism, kick robberies and smash-and-grab robberies except that the hacker is a punk-assed coward who never has to physically face their victims.

Dear Goodwell,

This is just wonderful, and another example of the entire world biting the hand that feeds it. Let's ALL get together and join the I hate America club. These ignorant Chineese people have decided just like everyone else in the world that all of their problems are America's fault. Well, give me a break! I am sure that these ignorant Chineese brats don't realize that if it weren't for America they would be speaking Japaneese right now, and if it weren't for America teaching them the business of capitalism they would still be grubbing in the dirt on their collectives, instead of attacking our electronic infrastructure because of their ignorance and stupidity. But, oh I forgot how could these ignorant boobs know any of that because they don't have freedom of speech and their knowledge and thoughts are tightly controlled by Chineese government propaganda, how stupid of me, duh!
The last time I checked it was illegal to initiate cyber attacks against anyone's website in the USA. I think America should issue arrest warrants for these bastards and insist that they be extradited to the United States for prosecution and then we should throw the book at them and give them all maximum sentences and make examples out of them.
Oh, by the way you ignorant, little, snot-nosed, Chineese creep, the internet was invented by the United States Government as a way to share information among people who cherish freedom of speech, so why don't you just stay off of it and you won't have to worry about your government coming to arrest you for something you may say that they disagree with.