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To no one’s real surprise, the culprit behind all the hackings against the United States is the Chinese Army. Specifically, they’re known as the ‘Comment Crew’ or ‘Shanghai Group’ (two rather non-intimidating names if you ask me) and they’re in P.L.A. Unit 61398, a 12-story office tower located just outside of Shanghai. That little building is responsible for much of the cyber attacks against the US from China.
Mandiant, a security firm, has spent time analysing the Comment Crew’s work and have counted more than 140 attacks from the hacking group since 2006. The Comment Crew, which is apparently a different group than what attacked US media outlets, attacks critical infrastructure in the US—electrical power grid, gas lines, water, etc. They ain’t playing around.
Mandiant has discovered that tracing hacks of the Comment Crew (named such because they embed hidden code or comments into web pages) all pointed to the P.L.A Unit 61398 headquarters in the Pudong district of Shanghai. More than 90% of the attacks that Mandiant has studied come from IP addresses used in the same neighbourhood as P.L.A Unit 61398. That’s where the Chinese hackers are. That where the hack is coming from. Mandiant remarks that the only other possibility is:
“A secret, resourced organization full of mainland Chinese speakers with direct access to Shanghai-based telecommunications infrastructure is engaged in a multiyear enterprise-scale computer espionage campaign right outside of Unit 61398′s gates.”
Which is, yeah, haha funny. The Chinese are denying that they’ve been hacking the US, claiming such an activity is illegal. Nevertheless, the Obama administration plans to inform China’s new leaders that the attacks have “become so intense that they threaten the fundamental relationship between Washington and Beijing.” Two heavyweights are going to butt heads because of hacking. Read the full report at the NY Times. [NY Times, Image Credit: NYT]
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Call in an air strike? Wait wait, they’ve got NUKES! DAMNIT..
The chinese havee always been cheeky rats.
If only we had the time and patience to respond to fire with fire.
A hilarious alternative has been suggested by the security firm hired by The New York Times.
Mandiant admitted there could be one alternative explanation for its findings: that “a secret, resourced organisation full of mainland Chinese speakers with direct access to Shanghai-based telecommunications infrastructure is engaged in a multi-year, enterprise scale computer espionage campaign right outside of Unit 61398′s gates, performing tasks similar to Unit 61398′s known mission”.
“If only we had the time and patience to respond to fire with fire.”
I hazard a guess that the western world does the same, times 2,356. Under the guise of “Cyberwarfare”. I’m guessing the Chinese just aren’t as good as picking up and/or publicising this (or governments have been good at covering up)
So you’re saying there’s a cyber war going on as we speak?
There’s something sinister and extreme about China. It doesn’t like the rules but definitely isn’t a threat to humanity
There probably is.
I guess it’s like policing. You know they’re doing a good job when nothing is happening.
Nothing new here. You see, USA and it’s allies aren’t the only ones trying to hack the shit out of their political/economical/military rivals…
Also how can we trust the Mandiant’s ‘findings’? Without evidence it could just as well be anti China propaganda.