Thursday, May 30, 2013
Chinese hackers breach key US weapons designs
The Washington Post is reporting that the designs for many of the U.S.’s “most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers.”
While the U.S. has started to increase its pressure on China, it is a dollar short and a day late. Rather than allow state-sponsored hackers to continue to harm U.S. national and economic security, the U.S. needs to take stronger actions to deter future cyber aggression.
While the U.S. has started to increase its pressure on China, it is a dollar short and a day late. Rather than allow state-sponsored hackers to continue to harm U.S. national and economic security, the U.S. needs to take stronger actions to deter future cyber aggression.
The new report
by the Defense Science Board lists at least 29 specific weapons system
designs that were stolen by hackers. These included several missile
defense systems, such as the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, the Terminal High Altitude Aerial Defense, and the Patriot Advanced Capability-3. Aircraft,
such as the F-35 and F/A 18 fighter planes, the C-17 cargo plane, and
the UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter, were compromised, as were the Navy’s
new Littoral Combat Ship and several information and control systems.
According to those familiar with these hacks, the vast majority are
part of an ongoing and growing Chinese cyber-espionage campaign to steal
U.S. technologies, advance Chinese weapons development, and then turn
them against their creators. Earlier this year, the security firm
Mandiant also identified a specific bureau of the Chinese military
as responsible for stealing huge amounts of data from U.S. companies
over the past seven years. Taken together with countless other confirmed
and suspected Chinese hacks, clearly the U.S. should do more to stop cyber aggression.
First, the U.S. should continue to name and shame China. This will
mean issuing more reports that identify China as a bad cyber actor and
then having U.S leaders use this information to call out China in
speeches and diplomatic discussions. While the U.S. is starting to actually put the blame on China in some of its reports, our leaders continue to naively treat China as a cyber ally.
In April, the highest-ranking American military officer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Martin Dempsey,
stated that the U.S. sought “collaboration and transparency” with
China, since “cyber threatens our economy and [the Chinese] economy.”
U.S. leaders should be pointing the finger at the Chinese instead of
inviting them to steal U.S. secrets.
Second, the U.S. should actually take a tougher line on China
by ceasing to cooperate with China on cybersecurity. The U.S. should
not be engaging in cyber war games and cyber exchanges with the Chinese
when they are merely using that information to learn how to do a better
job hacking U.S. systems. Continuing to collaborate with China only
proves that the U.S. knows about the problem but lacks the will to do
anything about it, thus further emboldening China. The U.S. should also
consider working with allies to take economic and legal actions against Chinese companies that peddle stolen property.
U.S. military and business secrets are being stolen as part of an
extensive cyber campaign by the Chinese to advance their weapons
capabilities and economy. The U.S. should stand up to China and make
them feel pain when they steal U.S. secrets. Failing to do so would
further endanger U.S. national security and economic growth.
This article was written by: Rajesh Darvesh
He is a Ethical Hacking and Security Professional, with experience in various aspects of Information Security and Founder of The Hacker Voice Other than this : He is an Internet Activist, Strong supporter of Anonymous and Wikileaks you can Follow him on Twitter
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