Washington Post: Massive cyber espionage campaign against US



    A recent U.S. intelligence report says the U.S. is the target of a long-running massive cyber espionage campaign that threatens the country's economic competitiveness, writes the Washington Post.

    Allegedly, China is seeking to penetrate the computer systems of American companies and institutions most aggressively in order to gain access to data that can be used for economic benefits.

    The report, which is the consensus of the US intelligence community, describes a wide range of sectors that have been the focus of hackers' attention for the past five years: energy, finance, information technology, and the aerospace and automotive industries.

    According to outside experts, the economic damage from espionage could amount to tens of billions of dollars. Sources in the administration say that cyber espionage has taken such proportions that it becomes a matter of national importance.

    The report also names three other countries - Russia, Israel and France - as those engaged in economic cyber espionage, but, according to the document, their efforts are pale against the background of China.

    Chinese cyber espionage is mainly aimed at commercial purposes related to military equipment. In 2011, when Chinese hackers attacked RSA Security, the stolen technology was used to infiltrate military-industrial facilities. Soon after, Chinese hackers entered the networks of defense giant Lockheed Martin, who used RSA Security tokens.

    Companies in other sectors have also been targeted. So, recently, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post stated that their networks were targeted by China.

    Back in 2010, Google announced that its networks were hacked, and China was again named the source of attacks. Then the attacks were aimed at the mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

    In his new book, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt stated that China is the “most experienced and active” hacker in the world, adding that we are already living in an era of state cyber warfare.

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