Chinese hackers invade networks and systems systematically the U.S. in search of source code, security breaches, surveys and other innovations, says national security expert Richard Clark in an article published in the Wall Street Journal last Wednesday. Clark said the attacks are happening "for years" and "are increasingly dangerous."
"The U.S. authorities know very well that China's government is attacking the computer networks of U.S. and U.S. corporations (...) in a global competition among knowledge-based economies, the Chinese cyber-operations seek to undermine the advantage the U.S." he says. "Only a few, such as Google, have the courage to admit they were victims of attacks," he reflects.
The attacks, dubbed "Aurora" by the name of the program identified as responsible for invasion are already well known to local authorities. Other giants like Adobe, Cisco and Juniper have also had the displeasure to meet his anger in the past systems. And these attacks are far from rare, Clark recalls that in 2009 the director of the British Secret Service went on to say that some local entrepreneurs were rare companies that have never been attacked by Chinese.
In one particular episode called "Night of the Dragon," Chinese invasions have attacked U.S. oil companies looking for data on the location and size of oil reserves controlled by foreigners. But Clark says the most dangerous attack happened in 2009 when the invaders were able to control over the electricity distribution system in the U.S., installing a backdoor that allowed them to have control over the supply of electricity in several U.S. military bases.
Remember that at the end of last May the U.S. government announced it would respond to cyber attacks with real bullets, that is, yet can thicken the broth a lot.
