The New York Times has claimed that hackers from China have “persistently” infiltrated it’s webspace over the past four months- in response, the Chinese foreign ministry has claimed that the American institution is enaging in a groundless and ‘irresponsible’ smear campaign.
Whilst claims of government hacking may seen outlandish, this wouldn’t be the first time China has been accused of such activity. Chinese goverment is notorious for targetting media and international bodies which threaten its image or challenge Beijing rhetoric. Other alleged victims include the International Olympic Committee, the UN and various security firms. China insists that it views hacking as highly illegal, and it is itself a victim of such security breaches.
The purported in question attacks began when the New York Times published a report that claimed that the family of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had amassed a multi-billion dollar fortune. Wealth is a notoriously touchy subject among Chinese elites and vast fortunes are seens as irrevocably linked to corruption and financial misdemanour. The hackers, who used methods “associated with the Chinese military” to target the writer behind the report, first infiltrated the paper’s systems as the report in Mr Wen was in production.
China’s foreign ministry dismissed the accusations as “groundless”.
However, according to Chinese spokesman Hong Lei, “To arbitrarily assert and to conclude without hard evidence that China participated in such hacking attacks is totally irresponsible…China is also a victim of hacking attacks. Chinese laws clearly forbid hacking attacks, and we hope relevant parties takes a responsible attitude on this issue.”
Among other evidence, Mandiant, the firm hired by the Times to locate the source of the hacks, found that the breaches “started from the same university computers used by the Chinese military to attack United States military contractors in the past.”
According to the firm’s chief security officer, Richard Bejtlich, “if you look at each attack in isolation, you can’t say, ‘This is the Chinese military’,” but that the similar patterns and targets of the attacks indicated a connection. You see the same group steal data on Chinese dissidents and Tibetan activists, then attack an aerospace company, it starts to push you in the right direction.”
