Chinese Cyber Attack

Canada and the World

Current Events with a Canadian Perspective

Last update

18 February 2011

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Chinese Cyber Attack on Government Computers

There’s a war going on in cyberspace and the targets

are some of the most carefully guarded secret

information systems of governments

A massive cyber attack on Canadian government computers has been reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

Greg Weston reports that, “The attack, first detected in early January, left Canadian counter-espionage agents scrambling to determine how much sensitive government information may have been stolen and by whom.

“Highly placed sources tell CBC News the cyber attacks were traced back to computer servers in China.”

Officials caution the location of the servers does not prove the hackers are Chinese. Apparently, sensitive files from Treasury Board and the Department of Finance have probably been stolen.

China a Centre of Cyber Espionage

China has become one of the world’s major sources of cyber-spying. A U.S. government report (“Capability of the People’s Republic of China to Conduct Cyber Warfare and Computer Network Exploitation”) released in October 2009, warns that China is ramping up its digital attacks on business and government computer networks.

According to the report, “China is likely using its maturing computer network exploitation capability to support intelligence collection against the U.S. Government and industry by conducting a long-term, sophisticated, computer network exploitation campaign.”

Military Major Target of Digital Espionage

On November 8, 2009 the CBS News program 60 Minutes ran a segment entitled “Sabotaging the System.”

In the broadcast, correspondent Steve Kroft said that hackers had already:

disabled part of Brazil’s electricity grid;
stolen tens of millions of dollars from banks;
infiltrated defence networks; and,
sabotaged weapons systems.

Kroft added that people who carry out these activities are “likely to be highly trained soldiers with the Chinese army or part of an organized crime group in Russia, Europe, or the Americas.”

The program interviewed Jim Lewis, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said “In 2007 we probably had our electronic Pearl Harbour...Some unknown foreign power, and honestly, we don’t know who it is, broke into the Department of Defence, to the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, probably the Department of Energy, probably NASA.

“They broke into all of the high tech agencies, all of the military agencies, and downloaded terabytes of information."

Every government official interviewed by 60 Minutes was careful not to name the country responsible, but based on the evidence elsewhere it was probably China.

Group Uncovers Malware on Government Networks

Earlier a group of researchers at Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies unravelled what The Globe and Mail (March 30, 2009) described as “the most politically explosive cyber-spy network in the world.”

They called the network GhostNet, and found it infected more than 1,200 “such ‘high-value targets’ as Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Kuwait, as well as a dozen computers in Canada.”

The attackers also got into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations systems, the Asian Development Bank, and numerous news organizations.

Rafal Rohozinski and Ron Diebert, two members of the team that exposed GhostNet wrote in the Globe and Mail, “the attacker(s)’ IP addresses we examined trace back in at least several instances to Hainan Island, home of the Lingshui signals intelligence facility and the Third Technical Department of the Peoples’ Liberation Army.”

GhostNet had inserted malicious software onto sensitive government computers that allowed its operators to read secret documents. All the Internet trails led back to Chinese, whose government immediately labelled the story “lies.”

But, while Western governments complain about Chinese cyber warfare, it’s a safe bet they are trying to do exactly the same spying on Chinese networks.

Sources

“Foreign Hackers Attack Canadian Government.” Greg Weston, CBC News, February 17, 2011.

“Capability of the People’s Republic of China to Conduct Cyber Warfare and Computer Network Exploitation.” U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, October 9, 2009.

“Cyber War: Sabotaging the System.” CBS News 60 Minutes, November 8, 2009.

“Meet the Canadians who Busted GhostNet.” Omar el Akkad, Globe and Mail, March 30, 2009.

“Cyber Attack Hits Ottawa; Probe Focuses on IP Addresses from China.” Bill Curry and Colin Freeze, Globe and Mail, February 17, 2011

Munk School

of Global Affairs

Citizen Lab

In covering the U.S. government report on cyber warfare, The Wall Street Journal (October 23, 2009) wrote that Chinese cyber-spies “steal $40 billion to $50 billion in intellectual property from U.S. organizations each year.”

“Cyber threats to the Canadian government’s computer infrastructure are growing all the time.

An ultra-secretive spy agency, the Communications Security Establishment Canada, is the main agency in charge of defending Canadian government systems from hackers. The Department of National Defence and Canadian Security Intelligence Service also play a role.”