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A Year's Further Research On an Espionage Network

Posted by kdawson on from the ghostnet's-successor dept.

Mortimer.CA writes "Last year researchers discovered a giant electronic spying operation they dubbed GhostNet. Now, after a further year's worth of research, Infowar Monitor has released a new report. The report (Scribbed PDF) documents a complex ecosystem of cyber espionage that systematically targeted and compromised computer systems in India, the Offices of the Dalai Lama, the United Nations, and several other countries. While the servers are in China, the report's authors say that there is 'no evidence in this report of the involvement of the People's Republic of China or any other government in the shadow network.' Furthermore, the 'intruders even stole documents related to the travel of NATO forces in Afghanistan, illustrating that even though the Indian government was the primary target of the attacks, one gap in computer security can leave many nations exposed.'"

13 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. two words by j00r0m4nc3r · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Plausible. Deniability.

  2. Ooooh! The Dalai Lama! by oldspewey · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I continue to get a kick out of the Chinese government's fixation on the Dalai Lama. If the whole thing didn't involve the theft of a nation and the brutal repression of the Tibetan people, the situation would be hilarious in a Monthy Python sort of way.

    --
    If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
    1. Re:Ooooh! The Dalai Lama! by blair1q · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or the Chinese government is going after the Dalai Lama in a crudely obsessive way to make you think it's someone going after the Dalai Lama to implicate the Chinese government.

    2. Re:Ooooh! The Dalai Lama! by sopssa · · Score: 2, Informative

      And yet the article says nothing about the intention being to start a war between China and India. Making things up is indeed fun. As for the CIA supporting the Dalai Lama... heck, in this case I'm all for it.

      And it states:

      The money allocated for the resistance movement was spent on training volunteers and paying for guerrilla operations against the Chinese, the Tibetan government-in-exile said in a statement.

      Just like with Osama bin Laden, Iraq and Middle-East. USA has a long history of supporting guerrilla and when it doesn't fit them anymore, they call them terrorists. I would imagine Dalai Lama and Tibet will be the next such thing.

  3. Research 2.0 by Jazz-Masta · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The team describes its findings in a report called Shadows in the Cloud: An investigation into Cyber Espionage 2.0

    Even "researchers" have caught the marketing bug. "Cloud" "Cyber" "2.0"

    Full report here:

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/29435784/SHADOWS-IN-THE-CLOUD-Investigating-Cyber-Espionage-2-0

  4. Major discovery by Drunkulus · · Score: 3, Funny

    We also discovered a gigantic copyright infringement network, which is codenamed "scribd."

  5. Let me refer all of you to this... by GPLDAN · · Score: 5, Informative

    The best bit of journalism in the last year on this subject:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/business/global/02hacker.html?emc=eta1

    Now - read the story of Maija the not-so-l33t hacker and pay special attention to how the story explains how the Chinese special intelligence services work. The whole thing is outsourced, loose affiliation. The blackwater-ization of hacking, where for the government is most interested in a plausible denial.

    Then tell me again how the Chinese intelligence services aren't funding and running Ghostnet.
    The way I see it, these hackers probably get treated as well as Bobby Kotick treats his people. Do thy bidding and get hookers sent over for lunch, maybe two if you find a 0-day.

    1. Re:Let me refer all of you to this... by osu-neko · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Then tell me again how the Chinese intelligence services aren't funding and running Ghostnet.

      Now now, let's not be hasty, there's no evidence in this report of the involvement of the People's Republic of China. It could be anyone on the long list of organizations who happen to hate the Dalai Lama, Chinese dissidents, etc. ;)

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  6. and there is never a case of US involvement? by kubitus · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Echelon is too costly.

    so build into all US produced ( or at least with US label ) network devices a small Trojan Boot Loader hidden with dirty programming.

    and activate these TBL's with instructions hidden in serachengine answers- according to the serial No of who bought which.

    And you end up with a fifth colon paid by the very IT user.

    ( A French Diplomat made a slip of tounge when asked if they did not fear Argentine to use Exocet missiles against themselves: we can switch it off - analogue a US Diplomat may slipof tongue: we can switch it ON )

    1. Re:and there is never a case of US involvement? by russotto · · Score: 4, Insightful

      so build into all US produced ( or at least with US label ) network devices a small Trojan Boot Loader hidden with dirty programming.

      It's plausible, but it's a works-once kind of thing. As soon as you make any major use of it, it's going to be found out, and everyone else is going to go looking for it. So you have to save it for when it's really valuable, but doing that means you risk it being found anyway and never using it.

      It['s

      And you end up with a fifth colon paid by the very IT user.

      What happened to colons two through four?

  7. Tibet is part of China by wiredog · · Score: 2, Informative

    and always has been, and don't try to tell the Chinese differently.

    --

    Best Slashdot Co
    1. Re:Tibet is part of China by deaddeng · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As Americans, we should show our condemnation for China's illegal occupation of Tibet by returning California, Texas, and New Mexico to Mexico, and Hawaii to its indigenous people. I think we should keep the rest, which we either bought from the French or stole fair and square.

      --
      --- .085 as cool; proving that a little knowledge is dangerous
  8. Re:Scumbags by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    >That makes me suspect Chinese have nothing to do with it, but its either some other nation using Chinese as a gateway and making them get the heat, or it's someone trying to make Chinese image bad.

    I wouldn't say chinese aren't involved instead I think the articles confirms what's widely known in the hacking world but seems to be distorted in press everytime a hacking ring is traced to china.

    These hackers whomever they are is motivated by profit. Instead of stealing bank information they're stealing strategic information (missile placements, defense protocol, etc.) and then selling it for profit to whomever wants it, be it the chinese government or maybe india's archrival pakistan or corporations with businesses in india.

    There's a tendency to see china as some kind of monolithic entity, meaning if a chinese person did something then "China" must of done it, but peel away the generalizations and as the article states there's different groups with different goals at work.