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China Calls US Culprit In Global 'Internet War'

On Wednesday we discussed news of Google's accusation that sources originating in China were interfering with Gmail using malware and phishing techniques, targeting Chinese political activists, US government officials, military personnel, and others. In response to the accusations, a Chinese official denied government involvement in the attacks, while the US government indicated they would investigate the matter. The attacks were more sophisticated than a typical phishing attempt, they involved Yahoo and Hotmail as well, and they have likely been going on for months. Now, according to a CBS report, "The Chinese military accused the US on Friday of launching a global 'Internet war' to bring down Arab and other governments, redirecting the spotlight away from allegations of major online attacks on Western targets originating in China."

58 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. Hilarious by gubers33 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    China got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and immediately creates a story about the US playing foul on the internet whether it is true or not, the only reason it was released by them is to avoid attention. China is not going to be able to avoid this they have been in the midst of internet controversy for the past few years from Green Dam software (Great Firewall of China) being created from stolen source code, to hacking Google and other countries to this newest event. They need to figure out if you start poking around in someone's backyard who has more advanced systems they are going to find out soon or later.

    --
    Just because you are wrong and I called you out on it doesn't mean I am a Troll.
    1. Re:Hilarious by DigiShaman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      News and historical revisionism is all part of the CCP's modus operandi. To them, it's one of many tools to control society and socially architect a future generation mindset.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    2. Re:Hilarious by sl3xd · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Extremists on any part of the political spectrum use the same tactic; whether liberal, conservative, or libertarian.

      I reject your reality and substitute my own.

      North Korea lives by this standard...

      --
      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    3. Re:Hilarious by dunng808 · · Score: 1

      What do we call this new Cold War? The Even Colder War? The Cyburr War? The Big Chill ... no, that's taken. The China Sindrome? Too obscure?

      --

      Gary Dunn
      Open Slate Project

    4. Re:Hilarious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Worse yet they're more efficient that the Repubmocrats here. Billary Clinton has handed off the socialist baton to Crackrok Obama who have done both their parts to architect a future generation mindset.( Kids R Suckerz). Badly enough though, its been going on since at least President Wilson and as social correct consciouslessness rises freedoms dissapear altogether, taken a little piece at a time. Think about it, Socialist Scientologist Democrat gave us the last huge screwing on Copyright in the name of the almighty Mouse. Thankfully he was ASSassinated by a patriotic tree on a ski slope.
      Don't let 'em fool you kid, you were born and bred in the U.S.S.A.

      Go back and read the founding documents, the writings of the founders, see their intent for yourself, then you can see where the supreme court got good and F**KING corrupt. Just take a lookee at their "analysis and interpretation of the constitution" after you see what you're getting suckered out of. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/index.html

      To answer your question, they're like our government but with a stronger hold on the people.

      Think of it like the old adage about how to cook a frog.
      You put froggy in a pot of water, but build the fire slowly.
      The frog won't even notice he's done for until it is too late.
      China is an old recipe for frog soup.
      The U.S. just thinks this is a relaxing spa so far.

    5. Re:Hilarious by jhoegl · · Score: 1

      That is an Adam Savage quote...

      How dare yee!

    6. Re:Hilarious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ++

      I can't wait for China to have a PMS moment and create their own internet. My SSH server will thank them. They can take the Koreas with them, as well as the old Russian Federation...

    7. Re:Hilarious by Korveck · · Score: 1

      This is not the first time China got caught conducting espionage of this sort. But US has no means to deter China from continuing. At best the States Department will complain about it, and a war of words ensues until the story dies down.

      No one outside China takes the Chinese media's views seriously as the media outlets are clearly controlled, or at least tightly watched over, by the government. It does not matter though. Their intended audiences are the Chinese citizens who listen to them daily. Only a very small portion of the citizens actually get news from outside. The Chinese media just have to spin the story around so that US is the true villain in this internet war game, that Google is secretly helping the evil empire of US. As long as the Chinese think their government is in the right, that's mission accomplished.

    8. Re:Hilarious by gilbert644 · · Score: 2

      Funniest part is that the Chinese government is so fascist that they don't recognize that claiming American involvement in the overthrow of dictators is actually pro-American.

    9. Re:Hilarious by biryokumaru · · Score: 1

      It seemed to work fine with Russia owing the US.

      --
      When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
    10. Re:Hilarious by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      The US basically advertised the fact they were creating an cyber warfare unit whose purpose was attacking other countries infrastructure not defence. The government of China pointing this out is hardly revelatory.

      The easiest way to deal with this, is to treat incoming data as a product export from the country of origin. If the exported data contains malicious content, the costs caused by that malicious content simply need to be calculated and a fine applied to the country of origin, upon the event and it's source being legally substantiated. It would then be up to the country of origin to recover those costs from the actual offenders.

      Failure to agree with this system of agreed controls, substantiated by treaties, should result in data export restrictions being placed upon that country.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    11. Re:Hilarious by aywang31 · · Score: 1

      The Chinese government is also very adept at showmanship. Wait till the next time that the US and Taiwan agree to another arms sale. The PRC only does stuff dead quiet (like the J-20 stealth fighter) or really loudly.

    12. Re:Hilarious by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Actually I think it is you guys who don't realise that meddling in another country's affairs is anti-American. The Arab Spring started with the people in those countries, not with America invading or enforcing sanctions etc. Okay, Facebook and Twitter played their part, but the revolution came from the people.

      Even if the country you invade is "evil" like Iraq under Saddam or Afghanistan under the Taliban that doesn't make America the good guys, at least not in the eyes of many in the Arab and Asian worlds (yes, Afghanistan is in Asia and the people there are Asians). Just because we think it is a just cause and the right thing to do doesn't change the fact that it looks like we go to other countries and use our military to further our own agendas.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    13. Re:Hilarious by jcarr · · Score: 1

      I'd love that happens in the future, but historically America has overthrown democracies in favor of dictators many times. There are a whole bunch, but here are two:

      1953 Iranian coup d'état
      1973 Chilean coup d'état

      In fairness, the american constitution allows us to talk about this history whereas in China, maybe not so much.

  2. Re:Wag the... by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 2

    Both are supreme villains.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  3. Re:Never a leader by DigiShaman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As it currently stands, China may become the leader of the world, but most certainly it will not be one of freedom.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  4. But didn't China..... by chrisj_0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Reroute half the internet last year?

    1. Re:But didn't China..... by mentatmatt · · Score: 1

      I thought that was Pakistan trying to block youtube content?

  5. China did it. by sethstorm · · Score: 2

    Ok.

    * Various political interests that China wants to kill off are targeted.
    * The US military is targeted.
    * The US government (outside of the military) is targeted.
    * A company that left China out of concerns for it being used as an attack platform was targeted.
    * The rest of the evidence points to China's red hands being all over this.

    The only answer worth giving to the Chinese government: 使''èZï¼

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    1. Re:China did it. by biryokumaru · · Score: 1

      The only answer worth giving to the Chinese government: 使''èZï¼

      I agree, we should punish them by making the entire internet reliant on ASCII instead of an internationally compliant Unicode system!

      --
      When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
  6. Re:Safe-Mail.net & Tor = better solution by petteyg359 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Because I can use SSL with Gmail, and I trust Google more than I trust some random mail server I've never heard of. Also, safe-mail advertises 3Mb (I seriously hope they're just idiots and are actually offering 3MB, because 375KB isn't going to last long for anybody who actually uses their email account. 3MB isn't going to last long, either.). Gmail currently gives me almost 8GB.

    If I'm really concerned about privacy, I can use one of my many email accounts on my own server. Then again, are you sure that all the intermediary servers your mail goes through are using SSL?

  7. The Chinese Communist Party... by benjfowler · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    are a fucking disgrace, and should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

    These rather stupid and outlandish statements will get them nowhere. Nobody is going to believe what they're saying.

    They must be on drugs to think that the US supporting people in exercising their natural human impulses to be free, is a "war against China". That's some seriously demented shit.

    China's constant spying and aggression can't go unpunished. We cannot continually let the CCP thieves and tyrants steal our technology and oppress their own people. There MUST be serious consequences for China, otherwise they'll get more bold and aggressive -- the worse for us. I would go as far as to say that military force can be justified -- China cannot be allowed to believe that they can get away with what they're doing.

    1. Re:The Chinese Communist Party... by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

      Warmongering Warmongering Warmongering Warmongering Warmongering Warmongering Warmongering.

      There is no reason to engage China militarily when we haven't cleaned up our mess in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now Libya. Another military conflict would be economically and socially disastrous for the US. I'm convinced that China would destroy us quickly if we tried.

      technically, by staying in Afghanistan and Iraq we provide China with free military coverage of sea lanes and easy resource extraction from those countries without them having to pay for it (or at least loan us the money at interest to pay for it) - if we were serious we'd bring our troops home from both wars and let China provide it's own military resources to extract it's own cheap resources, instead of us paying for it.

      --
      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    2. Re:The Chinese Communist Party... by biryokumaru · · Score: 1

      I'm convinced that China would destroy us quickly if we tried.

      Either you are not in any way familiar with our relative military strengths, or you are trying to make a very absurd joke.

      Not only do we have almost immeasurable technical superiority, enormously more capable and well trained troops and an order of magnitude more depth of strategic intelligence on their military than they have on ours, but our forces all actually want to fight for our country. China's only hope is either to continue milking us until we ruin ourselves financially (which is much further off than you might imagine), or to support a radical third party who would do something stupid and get themselves slaughtered to weaken us (like, say, Iran or North Korea).

      --
      When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
  8. Wait a minute... by bl4nk · · Score: 2

    I've personally been noticing a lot of suspSuí zhe yídòng dào zhèl kàn dào shénme

  9. Business as usual in Beijing: by Hartree · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Google traces targeted gmail password trawling attacks to China.

    Reaction?

    The "independent" (and presumably "fair and balanced") Global Times calls Google "snotty nosed". The equally "independent" Xinhua News Agency says that the acusation that China was behind the gmail phishing was "evil intentioned".

    The Chinese military ups the ante and accuses the US of an undeclared cyber war on the whole world.

    In other news, the Reichstag still appears to be vaguely smoldering.

  10. Re:Wag the... by teslafreak · · Score: 1

    Democrat right? BOTH parties are screwed up. Equally too.

  11. Regardless of China does or does not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The gullibility of the american public never ceases to amaze me.

    I swear to god, the next US president should be the damn kool aid mascot.

    1. Re:Regardless of China does or does not. by sconeu · · Score: 1

      I swear to god, the next US president should be the damn kool aid mascot.

      OH YEAH!!!

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    2. Re:Regardless of China does or does not. by bryan1945 · · Score: 1

      Damn it, you beat me to it! Well played!

      --
      Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
  12. Re:Never a leader by benjfowler · · Score: 2

    The world will be as prejudiced as it likes against tyrants, thieves and murderers.

  13. Re:Wag the... by DigiShaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's called psychological projection. You will find that the bulk of this mindset makes up a disproportional amount of ideologs. For every conservative that you name, I can name an american liberal. No need to get into a pissing contest here.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  14. You can always unplug it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hey China, nobody here held a gun to your head and forced you to use the Internet. We invented it for our own use, and thought it would be a good idea for peers to connect worldwide.

    We had a saying during the Cold War: If you don't like the US, you're free to leave. This contrasted our philosophy with that of the Soviet Union, where emmigrating was very difficult.

    Likewise, if you don't like the Internet you're free to create your own local network which is partially what you're doing with your "great firewall". Trouble is, you want it both ways. Sorry. Not our problem. If you can't firewall out everything you don't like then that leaves you with a choice:

    Deal with some things you don't like, or unplug it.

  15. ha by itchythebear · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I chuckle every time i read an article like this. Yes, I'm sure the United States is participating in electronic espionage (or whatever you want to call it), but does that surprise anyone? Seriously, is anyone surprised at this, like at all? As a United States citizen i would actually be very upset if my government wasn't doing this. The flip side to this is that I can really not be that upset at China for doing the same thing. So really this is a non story and the only one governments are fooling when they make claims like this are... no one.

    --
    If what I just said sounded like a troll, it was probably just a failed attempt at humor.
    1. Re:ha by mhesd · · Score: 2

      The real flip side would be that there are hundreds of US right activists political persecuted in the US, emigrated to China and now targeted by the US government or army by phishing attacks. Did you ever heard from at least one of these mysterious activists?

    2. Re:ha by KingBenny · · Score: 1

      yea, the only one who should hang here is the one 'super'-hacker who got sloppy enough to let it slip into the mainstream media. I'm also pretty much convinced that stuff like this happens, or better even : happened all the time ever since organized government got invented/implemented

      --
      Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
  16. Re:Wag the... by rickb928 · · Score: 2

    "many other dictatorial regimes composed of blowhards, up to and including the modern US Republicans/TeePartiers."

    "Whenever they start accusing someone else of something, assume either (a) they're doing it themselves or (b) they're doing something far worse and trying to draw attention away from it."

    Well played, sir. The irony is deafening...

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
  17. Pay attention to what they say by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 2

    They say "the Government of China did not have anything to do with the attacks".

    They do NOT say "the Chinese Army had nothing to do with the attacks".

    It's all in the details and the saving of face.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  18. no this sounds like Rod Blagojevich spin but not a by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    no this sounds like Rod Blagojevich spin but not as good. China can at least blame on a fail guy or try to say that we did not think that hacking was a crime.

  19. Re:Wag the... by flyneye · · Score: 1

    I don't see enough relevant difference between Republicans and Democrats to call this farce a two party system.
    Freedom gone. Money gone. Motivation gone. We're panda food.

    This is coming from a plain old garden variety libertarian.

               

    --
    *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
  20. Re:Safe-Mail.net & Tor = better solution by biryokumaru · · Score: 1

    Then again, are you sure that all the intermediary servers your mail goes through are using SSL?

    Of course they are! In fact, I did a geo-location on one of the computers I'm connected to through TOR and it looks like it's a pretty secure one in the Chinese government! If you can't trust them, who can you trust? See, TOR is a great idea for safe web access!

    --
    When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
  21. Ok, so it mangled the unicode. by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    The only message worth giving in reply to the Chinese government: NÇ zhÃge piÃnzi!

    (yes, it's translated output of "You liar!", in phonetic)

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  22. Everyone's doing it, just own up to it by fa8os · · Score: 2

    China's just the sucker that gets caught doing it. They're after all sorts of targets, government or otherwise. I had them ruin my. Xmas holiday when they tried unsuccessfully to send 10G DDoS attacks across the wire. Just protect your stuff, because there are a lot of people out the with a lot of motivation to either get your IP, money, are just try to shut you down. China's just one of many. If you have any sort of online presence you are a potential target.

  23. Re:cession by hoboroadie · · Score: 1

    I was pondering today, as I was putting in a couple square rods of tomatoes, that we haven't really had the big famine yet around here, so all of this -out of work/fuel/money stuff is just an artificial construct being imposed on us by the same paper money/alternate reality crew that has been presenting this show all along. Reality-based lifestyles are really going down the tubes pretty fast though; Aside from the deforestation/climate change, Fracking and Mountaintop Removal are really fucking up our fresh water resources. All this squabbling is just petty compared to any one of the real disasters that are occurring. Take your pick, Topsoil/Water/Air, it's coming. Weird new fungi, plankton bloom, the inevitable coming oil spill in ANWR {Drill, Baby, Drill}.
    I don't think we need to worry about China.

    --
    They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
  24. Re:Never a leader by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    Being the leader of the free world isn't worth shit other than warm n' fuzzies, being the leader of the economic world is what counts, and subjugation is more profitable than freedom. Imagine in the US if all regulation were rolled back to 1800s levels and you still had all this modern technology and knowledge. That's China. Foxconn is an example of a 21st century company town. Sucks to be an Average Joe in China but it looks damn good on the quarterly statements.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  25. Re:Isn't this story about 2 years old? by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

    Now that they're no longer operating in China, they can't exactly threaten to close their China office again, so the Chinese government can hack them pretty much with impunity. (Not that the Chinese government really cared the first time.)

  26. Re:cession by flyneye · · Score: 1

    Are the tomatoes right next to jalepenos ,onions and cilantro? Nothing clears gloom and doom like homebrew picante sauce.

    Not worried about mountains, they can top them, force just keeps pushing them up.
    At some point the earth was a mess of minerals and chemicals before we showed up, yet, we showed up and thrived.

    I'm not going to worry a whole f**king lot about the food thing either. When we quit paying subsidies to farmers to grow nothing or worse, plant on unarible or flood prone ground, year after year,season after season, then collect fed subsidized insurance and subsidies, then shit will change. Farmers who are actually worth a shit will go back to actually working and producing food. Responsible farming will return and the dunderheads will end up selling land and working for actual farmers as is the proper way in nature and business.

    I'm not going to worry about the oil. We have plenty without even involving the UAE. Here come the electric vehicles, solar and other powers. We have plenty of oil for lubing moving parts. I'm beginning to do my own homebrew energy anyway.
    Fungi? Plankton? Nature doesn't make mistakes, don't forget our species evolves relevantly ,probably quicker than any other species. Those that don't are on their way off the radar anyway.

    I'm not going to worry about China.
    I replace worry with planning in all cases. I encourage others less talented than myself to worry about China, it keeps the dialog open.

    --
    *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
  27. Re:Never a leader by jcarr · · Score: 1

    What was read in China:

    The world will be as prejudiced as it likes

  28. Ban the republican party by Dainsanefh · · Score: 1

    Bring on the peaceful, united New World Order. One Planet, One nation.

    --
    Twitter: @dainsanefh
    1. Re:Ban the republican party by Dainsanefh · · Score: 1

      Heil Hitler!

      --
      Twitter: @dainsanefh
    2. Re:Ban the republican party by Dainsanefh · · Score: 1

      Sieg Heil!

      --
      Twitter: @dainsanefh
    3. Re:Ban the republican party by Dainsanefh · · Score: 2

      Sieg Heil! LOLOLOL!

      --
      Twitter: @dainsanefh
    4. Re:Ban the republican party by Dainsanefh · · Score: 2

      ONE TWO THREE!

      --
      Twitter: @dainsanefh
    5. Re:Ban the republican party by Dainsanefh · · Score: 2

      dsf sdgasdg sdag eswg

      --
      Twitter: @dainsanefh
    6. Re:Ban the republican party by Dainsanefh · · Score: 2

      ole ole ole ole

      --
      Twitter: @dainsanefh
  29. Good psyops by Oxford_Comma_Lover · · Score: 1

    > Sorry for violating Godwin's law, but, after all, 60 years ago Hitler accused the US of treating Jews inhumanely. This seems to be done in the same spirit. Oh right, 70 years by now. I'm getting old.

    Yes, although this is a much better psyop. Think about it: China simultaneously diverts attention from its attacks, weakens the credibility of the US on cyber issues, undermines pro-western support in arab nations, undermines moderates in arab nations, etc...

    Realize that being associated with the United States often undermines the credibility and popular support of moderate or pro-democracy parties in Arab states, where there is a lot of Anti-US feeling. People who strongly dislike some thing about Iran, for example, really like that it stands up to the United States.

    This was a GOOD move politically on China's part, even though it is probably at least something of a lie, possible almost entirely a lie. My bet is the US, aside from Stuxnet, has been assisting with cyber-assets in the various revolutions--because those are the most costless assets to deploy, and they don't draw us into major wars. China is attempting to leverage that cyber activity against us by magnifying whatever role it played. Our recent statement that it can be an act of war lends their claims legal weight and makes it easier for anti-US papers and pundits and the international community to criticize the US.

    I don't support China--I'd much rather have countries as US friends than as friends of China--but this was a great move on China's part.

    --
    -- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
  30. Block China in the firewall by msoftsucks · · Score: 1

    I use the service from http://www.countryipblocks.net/ to create rules in my firewalls to just block out China, Korea, an Russia. This cuts down significantly the hacking attempts on my servers. Its time to reject buying anything "Made in China" to show them that this kind of behavior is unacceptable.

    --
    Quit playing Monopoly with Bill.
    Linux - of the people, by the people, and for the people.