China's Cyber-Militia

D. J. Keenan notes that the cover story of the current issue of National Journal reports in depth on China's cyber-aggression against US targets in the government, military, and business. We have discussed China's actions on numerous occasions over the years. The news in this report is the suggestion that Chinese cyber-attackers may have been involved in major power outages in the US. "Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of US companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida and the Northeast, according to US government officials and computer-security experts..."

Comments

I hope this guy isn't getting paid

[ShieldW0lf]

Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida and the Northeast, according to U.S. government officials and computer-security experts.

Wow, has professional writing ever gone downhill. Ever heard of a period?

Re:I hope this guy isn't getting paid

[couchslug]

"Wow, has professional writing ever gone downhill. Ever heard of a period?"

No

Just wait

[LM741N]

From now on every instance of government stupidity and incompetence will be blamed on Chinese Hackers. Well, maybe the 13 year old hacker in his parent's basement is finally safe.

"hacked by chinese"

[bsDaemon]

It would be sweet revenge if they suddenly started seeing their government websites reporting "hacked by Tibet"

Re:wake up people

[rhakka]

You mean kind of like we did with Cuba (minus the EMP bit)? I mean, that works really well, right? Or Iraq? Embargo the heck out of them, and sooner or later those pissed off commoners will throw off their shackels!!

right?

So, how do you seriously get to the point where a couple of blackouts and some economic competition justifies bombing around 1 billion people because you're paying too much for gas? Do you kick puppies for training, or are you just born that much of an asshole naturally?

Re:of course

[TubeSteak]

The computers which control the plant should be physically separated from the computers which are needed/wanted for connection with the internet. Otherwise you are begging for disasters. It's more like the trees which grow next to the powerlines should be kept trimmed.
Otherwise you are begging for disasters.

Did Hackers Cause the 2003 Northeast Blackout? Umm, No
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/did-hackers-cau.html

So China would have to have planted the race condition in a [General Electric] product used around the world, then, using the most devious malware ever devised, arranged for trees to grow up into exactly the right power lines at precisely the right time to trigger the cascade.

Re:And the point of the article is...?

[jeiler]

Every time I hear about divesting from China, I think of this picture.

You couldn't make this shit up!

[sean4u]

Oh wait...

Re:they are accurate

[Anonymous Coward]

Forget batteries, we need cars that run on fucking idiots. Slashdot has shown me that that's something we'll never run out of, cuz we got plenty here. (Of which you're just one example.)