China Crafts Cyberweapons 326
MitmWatcher writes to mention that a recent report by the Department of Defense revealed that China is continuing to build up their cyberwarfare units and develop viruses. "'The PLA has established information warfare units to develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems and networks,' the annual DOD report on China's military warned. At the same, Chinese armed forces are developing ways to protect its own systems from an enemy attack, it said, echoing similar warnings made in previous years."
not war just scare tactics (Score:4, Interesting)
not so much war as it is to prevent the US or other capitalist/democratic countries from undermining their regime. china is a known source of some cyber attacks- mainly from less organized hackers but now that it will be more organized- more bang for the buck. they probably wont try to destroy our systems completely as that would likely have a ripple effect on their economy as well- they sell a lot of stuff to us and where they to screw that up it would hurt them quite dearly. there is one thing that we have that they dont and that is oddly enough sheer number- if i remember correctly we out number them in computing power so if we ever needed to we could do a real DOS attack from hell on them.
Re:OH NOES! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sensible (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, cyberspace (I know, played out term, but it's common vernacular now) is a place (kinda) where strategy can be applied to hamper an enemies war fighting potential. Not only that, it can be the equivalent to infrastructure destruction when targeted at the private sector. Yep, all that advantage without firing a shot, without having to wait for resupply of ammunition and without putting a single person within killing range of the target.
In other words, this is common sense.
US military has one too: USAF Cyberspace Command. (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123030505 [af.mil]
Pot kettle black? (Score:1, Interesting)
Or am I the only one who's always been paranoid enough to find it a bit suspicious that the big internet worm [wikipedia.org] was created by "the son of" the NSA's chief computer security scientist?
I've always believed that if it really was Morris who wrote it in the first place, dear son must have been browsing through some stuff dad brought home from work, or else he wouldn't have found multiple vulnerabilities in multiple software products (see the wiki article) in a timespan short enough to use them in a single worm.
And of course it isn't suspicious that the connection to the NSA was removed from the wiki page about the worm itself (it is still mentioned on the page about its author [wikipedia.org], however).
Re:And yet... (Score:4, Interesting)
Have you been offline for the past decade? Chinese attacks on US networks aren't some nebulous possibility; they've been going on for years. Quite a few articles about it have shown up right here on Slashdot.
As for the US's military spending, that annoys me because it gets blown kicking over some dictator in the Middle East or chasing "terrorists" who kill less people than cars, instead of preparing for and dealing with real threats.
No, not while they're attacking.
Notable: SharedSource (Score:5, Interesting)
It is notable here that China is one of the state entities that enjoys access to the source code for Window under Microsoft's SharedSource program. If you're in IT for a government agency in the US, it's your duty to ask 'what does China know about my critical infrastructure that I don't know?'
Unfortunately for the people who rely on you, the answer is undiscoverable.
Re:Yes? (Score:5, Interesting)
1/Europe was a warzone for a thousand years. The moment the EU(actually its predecessors) was founded, war ceased. The economic bonds between these member states prevent any war. No-one in his right mind would think of a war between 2 of the member states, and yet Europe is the least militarized zone in the world.
2/the way people keep thinking of "enemies" is an outdated concept. At least in some parts of the world. Can you point them on the map? And Can you make a link to countries not involved in any war in 50 years ?
Re:not war just scare tactics (Score:3, Interesting)
I liken this to the uproar about China developing space based weapons. Um, weren't the US doing it first?
I'd see this more as a sign that China is catching up with the US in terms of utilisation of computing technology. Possibly this is more of a threat because it might mean a chinese microsoft may not be far behind. I'd be willing to bet good money that this is the real thing that's got powerful people having pause for thought.
Personally I'm something of a fan of China. What I wouldn't give to be involved in their space program, even if only in a small way. Hopefully some research might crop up that's related and I can jump in.
I have friends who are involved with China, assisiting in their establishment of research institutions and suchlike, although its still early days. I think it's a good thing. Anything to reduce the neo-conservative dream of a world divided into the good and the evil, with everyone outside of US airspace being broadly defined as 'probably evil, unless we can sell them something'.
im not scared (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Know how your stuff works!!! (Score:4, Interesting)
I largely agree with you. This is why I have decided to go on an open source only diet. Believe me, I am the richer for it. I haven't run Windows since the waning days of Windows 2000 Professional. I have found that FreeBSD and OpenBSD can satisfy almost every computing need that I have, whither it be a minute task or a more advanced routing solution. I like having control of my computing environment. Knowing how my computers and operating systems work have saved me from making purchases based on sales propaganda or FUD. Knowledge really is power. When I hear Microsoft's Get the Facts, I yawn in boredom and can't help wonder how many punters will buy into it.
Really, it comes down to our educational system to help stop some of the ignorance. Colleges should mandate more than just basic computer use courses. There should be a tuple of classes covering basic computer use, basic networking, and basic security. Just like some Comp and Info Sci programs require taking business classes, Business programs should require Info sci classes. If management were wiser to computing, they might listen when their IT professionals make a serious recommendation.
Re:Sensible (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:OH NOES! (Score:2, Interesting)
Or like saying California is part of the U.S.A, or saying southern Spain is part of Spain. For most parts of the world, you'll find they got to be the country they are in part through invasion. The invasion of Tibet was successful nearly 50 years ago. It seems to me like an accomplished fact, whether we like it or not.
[Taiwan] is also technically a apart of China, even if it is practically separate. Whether or not a country exists independently or is part of another country is established by the facts on the ground. It is not a "technical" matter. I suppose that "technically" the status of Cuba is unresolved because dead aborigines who were enslaved and killed by the Spanish invaders left no heirs nor wills, and the matter has never been adjudicated by a court with proper jurisdiction; does it matter? The reality is that Cuba belongs to Fidel Castro.
The reality also remains that Taiwan is not part of China.
As you pointed out yourself, Taiwan's government spent years in exile... and it wasn't because springtime in Japan is so lovely Not sure what you're talking about here. From 1895 to 1945, the government of Taiwan wasn't in exile in Japan, it was Japan. From 1949, the occupying Chinese were in exile from China, and they were in Taiwan, not in Japan. From 1995, when Taiwan finally began to be run by the Taiwanese as a democracy instead of by the occupying dictatorship, the Taiwanese rulers have never been in exile.
Re:Notable: SharedSource (Score:3, Interesting)
America is about to have a change of admin (hopefully before 8 years are up) because of our piss poor leadership for 6 years.
Why do I think that China does not have a joint relationship in mind? because it is just a few ppl in charge. When that happens, then they have other ideas. Giving up a trillion dollars of American debt is NOTHING, if they can weaken us to the point where they can take back Taiwan. Then it was well worth it. As it is, not only is China gearing up for war (but that is understandable), but they have tied their money to ours which is screwing America. They have it tied ONLY to the dollar, not to the euro. If it floated free, then many of the economic issues that we see today would disappear.
There is a war headed this. Right now, it is a cold one. But, most likely a real one is headed this way.
Re:Sensible (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sensible (Score:1, Interesting)
Space HAS officially been militarized. It hasn't been officially used for combat.
The difference being that the latter requires weaponry, the former doesn't. The military has more than just weaponry. Military intelligence is pretty useful for the military, after all. You know, GPS, spy satellites... dang useful.
That is the problem (Score:3, Interesting)
In addition, another big issue is that China is creating a generation that will have 10-15% of their males without having brides. Chinese leadership is NOT stopping this. Instead, they are encouraging the single males to join the military. They are aware that they have 5 x the size of the military, but it is our tech that gives us an edge. But that is why China is busy stealing it, and even approaching Bill Gates to give them tech. and have America open up our knowledge to them. The only high-tech that is kept from them has either dual-use or even just single use of military.
No doubt you view it as cold war era. But the difference is that as long as a small group of ppl in control a country AND we are not intertwined, then we are heading towards a problem.
Re:That is the problem (Score:3, Interesting)
Iran has never been a threat to America or EU (but they are a threat to Israel).
As to being in war with China, well, we are in a funny cold war with them now. They are not buying from us, but are pushing on us ( and succeeding ). In terms of tech, they steal a great deal of it (though they do some of their own ). Good examples is they bought a small maglev from Germany, and are now playing games with Germany to install another small portion. In the mean time, they are doing loads of research on high-speed maglevs. Recently, a ex-chinese who became American was found to be stealing Submarine secrets. Now that goes on all the time, but in this case, he had access to some very interesting items. My 2'nd to last job was developing hardware/software for sale to commercial and Gov groups. We were using classified equipment for this. One "taiwan" business man wanted to fund us to the tune of 2 million dollars. But he insisted that we turn over the deed to that equipment. When we told him no, he then wanted to invest, but only if he could take it to taiwan and japan for sales purposes(flat out said so). When we pointed out that either country could vpn into our network, he said that it was not good enough. Later, he came out and flat out said that he wanted to take this to mainland China. Needless to say, we did not cut a deal.
In another case, one of the potential interviewees that I had was a Chinese women who married a USA GI. Nice gal and appeared to be bright. She was mildly interested in us, until I told her some of what we did, and pointed out that we could not use her. She went wild to get the job.
Getting tech from us will take a while, but it will happen.
Personally, I believe that as long as China remains a totalitarian state, once they believe that they have rough technical parity with America/EU, is when they will strike. Chinese leadership has growing problems and it will get worse. In particular, they do not have the resources to feed their own. And with Global Warming coming, a big part of their bread basket may disappear before 2050. Water will be a precious resource for them (and for America, btw). So where does China turn? They will go to the country with resources. Oddly enough that is not America or western Europe. They will most likely look North. But once that starts, they will have no issue with going after a SMALL island.
Hopefully, I am wrong. After all, I was telling others that USSR/RUSSIA was not a problem; It was obvious in the 70's, that they were collapsing. But this is different.
Re:Yes? (Score:2, Interesting)
Don't think for a minute that peace is inevitable... There are still European troops acting as peacekeepers in the Balkans, and another poster has mentioned the French immigration problems (which seem to be growing in Germany as well). Europe is not the least militarized zone, not by any margin. It's simply the most hopeful in that respect. The US Army doesn't practice against the Chinese military...it practices against the highly professional German army.
Chinese vulnerable as long as they run Windows (Score:2, Interesting)
Vulnerabilities (Score:2, Interesting)