cyberespionage

The Chinese government and military have engaged in widespread cyberespionage targeting U.S. government and business computer networks, the Pentagon said Monday.

China maintained a steady campaign of computer intrusions in 2012 that were designed to acquire information about the U.S. government's foreign policy and military plans, according to the Pentagon's annual report to Congress on China's military.

"China is using its computer network exploitation capability to support intelligence collection against the U.S. diplomatic, economic, and defense industrial base sectors that support U.S. national defense programs," according to the 83-page 2013 "… Read more

The U.S. and China have agreed to form a working group on cybersecurity, after a recent volley of cyberspying accusations from both sides.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced from Beijing that the two countries will ramp up action on cybersecurity, Reuters reported.

Cybersecurity "affects the financial sector, banks, financial transactions -- every aspect of nations in modern times are affected by the use of cybernetworking, and obviously all of us, every nation, has an interest in protecting its people, protecting its rights, protecting its infrastructure," the news agency quoted Kerry as saying after a … Read more

The U.S. government has decided that its agencies cannot buy IT equipment from overseas sources -- specifically China -- without approval from federal law enforcement.

The provision was tucked into a funding law signed this week by President Obama. The law requires that all federal agencies looking to buy IT equipment from companies overseas must undertake a formal "cyberespionage or sabotage" risk analysis with federal law enforcement. Once law-enforcement officials sign off, the purchase can be made.

The provision underscores the increasing concerns the U.S. appears to have with China. The assessment, in fact, must include &… Read more

China is the top cyberthreat to the U.S. and has been intensifying attacks on U.S. businesses to identify data that will help the country gain economically, according to a recently obtained national security document.

Over the past five years, the Chinese have focused their efforts on businesses operating in finance, technology, and aerospace, among others, according to the Washington Post, which published information from the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a document that includes data and analysis from all U.S. intelligence agencies. The Post obtained information related to the report from unidentified individuals.

The cyberwar between the U.… Read more

Recent reports of cyberespionage and hacking against important U.S. targets have triggered cybersecurity rumblings in Washington, with the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee reportedly planning to bring back the controversial CISPA -- Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act -- and President Obama reportedly readying his own executive order on the issue.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and ranking member Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) say they plan to re-introduce CISPA -- unaltered -- next week during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, according to Beltway tech blog The Hill.

"American … Read more

Hot on the heels of reports from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, another storied U.S. newspaper -- The Washington Post -- has confirmed that it too was attacked by what it suspects were Chinese hackers. And a new book from Google's Eric Schmidt reportedly calls the Asian country "the most sophisticated and prolific" hacker of foreign companies.

In an article published today, the Post says attackers gained access to the paper's computer systems as early as 2008 or 2009 and that malware installed on the systems was neutralized in 2011 by … Read more

It's like the Cold War never ended: U.S. intelligence agencies see Russia and China as the most significant threats to the nation's interests.

The difference this time is that the field of engagement isn't proxy states in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, but in the vast digital reaches of cyberspace.

In a new report to Congress, titled "Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets in Cyberspace," the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX) points to "significant and growing threats to the nation's prosperity and security" from other nation states, including historic … Read more

The International Monetary Fund has become the latest high-profile organization to fall victim to a network intrusion, according to various media reports, suffering a substantial breach, the full extent of which is not yet known.

Reporting the incident earlier today, The New York Times quoted an unnamed official as saying the breach was a "very major" one and that it had been taking place over the last several months.

The Times said the actual dimensions of the attack were unknown and that the IMF would say only that the Fund was "fully functional" and that the … Read more