Chinese attack on US media sets new bar for digital wars

China has set the new bar for such warfare with information now emerging that digital warriors based in that country have been hacking into top US newspapers and email accounts of several American journalists for months now.

The expanded contours of future warfare are quickly being redefined. They will involve not just armies and armaments but electronic networks and digital warriors. New bloodless battlefields will include a sprawling cyberia, and soldiers will include computer jocks sitting in front of monitors.

There will also be cyber-jihadis, or at least some nations will disown them and call them non-state actors. Digital mercenaries will also serve private interests. While Ghazni and Ghori pillaged temples in search of treasures, these marauders will plunder foreign networks for information and money.

 China has set the new bar for such warfare with information now emerging that digital warriors based in that country have been hacking into top US newspapers and email accounts of several American journalists for months now. For the most part, the publications targeted, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, were investigating charges of corruption against top Chinese leaders, including its premier Wen Jiabao. Key journalists whose email accounts were broken into were those involved in coverage of China. The attacks were routed through US universities in an attempt to hide their origin, but investigations by a cyber security firm employed by NYT to track the hacking led them to China. Expectedly, Beijing rubbished the charges, saying it is "totally irresponsible" to accuse China of participating in the online attacks without proof. But Washington thinks there is enough evidence and has said it will take it up with Beijing. US analysts believe the Chinese attacks are state-sponsored if not state-led. For one, the forays were mainly aimed at newspapers that were investigating corruption in the Chinese leadership, particularly at journalists covering the political and economic beat in China.
 The attackers also kept government timings - typically clocking in at 8 am Beijing time and winding up at 5 pm, although on occasions they continued till midnight. The attacks were reportedly initiated through a tactic called spearphishing, which involves tricking someone into opening an email link or attachment which would then automatically install malicious software on the network. US investigators say the software used is a specific strain associated with previous forays originating from China and they also started from the same Chinese university computers allegedly used in the past by the Chinese military to launch attacks. The attackers also did not seem interested in stealing anything beyond information about the investigation into Chinese leadership. India has also been a victim of China's cyber attacks for nearly five years now, but the topic has not ignited much interest in the public domain. But Washington, which takes pride in its leadership of cyberwarfare - it is working with Israel in this area to cripple Iran's nuclear programme - has been jolted by the story. In the past US lawmakers have railed against Chinese cyber attacks against American corporations, including Google and Lockheed Martin, but the latest intrusions suggests Beijing too is catching up on this dimension of warfare, much to US dismay. In some of her final remarks before she demitted office on Friday, secretary of state Hillary Clinton revealed that Washington has been seized of the matter, but betrayed an element of helplessness over how to counter it. "We have to begin making it clear to the Chinese that the US is going to have to take action to protect not only our government, but our private sector, from this kind of illegal intrusions," she said. So what will Washington do? It will help build an international alliance against the cyberthreat, she said, and "in the event that we don't get some kind of international effort under way," it will go ahead and do things on its own. She offered no specifics.

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