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Chinese Hackers Had Unfettered Access To Nortel Networks For a Decade

An anonymous reader sends this quote from CBC News: "Hackers based in China enjoyed widespread access to Nortel's computer network for nearly a decade, according to ... Brian Shields, a former Nortel employee who launched an internal investigation of the attacks, the Wall Street Journal reports [from behind a paywall]. ... Over the years, the hackers downloaded business plans, research and development reports, employee emails and other documents. According to the internal report, Nortel 'did nothing from a security standpoint' about the attacks."

10 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. 'Chinese hackers' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Otherwise known as, 'Huawei employees'.

  2. With [not-]Friends like these... by sethstorm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The first thing the US (and other First World nations) should be doing is getting tougher on China instead of being any bit friendly to them in commerce.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  3. Re:Maybe there was a reason? by Riceballsan · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Uhh yeah... sure.

    "Hey Jim it looks like someones broken in, should we do something about it?"

    "Nah just wait a bit, i want to see what they are doing and fine the source

    10 years later "Aha!!!, I narrowed it down to someone in china.

  4. Two points: by rickb928 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1) I no longer care what "Wall Street Journal reports [from behind a paywall]". Quoting largely unavailable sources is wasting my time.

    2) Nortel wasn't so good at security in their products. Not much of a surprise.

    Oh, and 3) discounting 'cyberwar' as a solution justifying a problem is a little like dismissing a accidental wound as not in and of itself fatal. You've been injured. Claiming it's 'not that bad' doesn't change the nature of the injury. China has been attacking the rest of the world for a while now. The evidence cannot be excused.

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
  5. analogy by P-niiice · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wife: Honey, I'm being raped Husband: Give it a minute, I want to check out his methods so we can prevent it in the future {two hours later} Husband: I think he has a penis

  6. link around the paywall by akahige · · Score: 5, Informative
    1. Re:link around the paywall by houghi · · Score: 5, Funny

      Link to full article around the paywall? Are you a Chinese hacker?

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  7. Re:Maybe there was a reason? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    nortel built a plant over there with the promise of getting some of the chinese telecom market share. the chinese sold them a plot of land in a flood plain so they could not use the first floor for about half the year. shortly after the plant went live i started hearing stories of chinese companies making exact duplicates of our equipment and selling it to their customers. i think we got no more then 1-3% market share even though we originally had the best equipment.

    what gets me are all the companies standing inline to get in there. haven't they read all the stories about the corporate espionage that occurs once you let them into your systems.

  8. The myth of the Chinese "calling in" their debts. by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 5, Informative

    Foreigners own less than 30% of US Treasury bonds. China owns 30% of those foreign owned bonds. About 8% of US bonds in total. The bonds are for a fixed term. They are paid in US dollars, at a fixed interest. And the US Treasury must register and approve all buyers.

    China cannot "call in their debt" early. That's not how bonds work. The only way for them to do... anything... with the bonds is to dump them on the open market. However, that would crash the price, and the US could simply buy back the bonds at less than their face value, saving money in the long term. Since the interest rate paid on bonds is about a low as it can get, it means demand is high and so the US is not in any way dependent on China buying new debt. In fact, China seems to be gradually selling out of US Treasuries, and the interest hasn't gone up. If China tried to dump its bonds, the market would scoop them up.

    Since each bond is individually registered with the US Treasury, and is paid by the US Treasury, if China somehow tried to... do something... somehow... to blackmail the US over its debt, the US government could selectively default on Chinese owned bonds. This wouldn't spook the bond market much because of the narrow targeted US response, and the obvious dickishness of the Chinese in bring it on themselves. (In fact, under such circumstances it would probably settle the markets.)

    Put simply, you cannot fuck with another country by buying their debt in a form they have absolute control over.

    Anyone who says you can is lying to you in order to sell you something.

    --
    Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
  9. Re:Maybe there was a reason? by tqk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because unlike China and Mexico its possible to run a secure plant in the USA.

    I think it would be possible to run a secure plant in China, Mexico, and even Canada. However, since the reason you're over there is to have access to dirt cheap labour, minimal overhead, and access to a billion+ potential consumers, operating a secure plant is considered an unnecessary expense.

    --
    "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.