Cyberespionage: J’Accuse!
Posted on October 27, 2007
Filed Under Apparatchiks, China Internet, Cyberespionage, Malware |
China Tradezone provides an update on the Germany-China cyberespionage brouhaha:
Hans Elmar Remberg, vice president of the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution, told a Berlin conference on industrial espionage that his country was involved in “the Chinese cyber war”.
“In our view, state Chinese interests stand behind these digital attacks,” Reuters reported.
“Supporting this view is the intensity, structure and scope of the attacks, and above all the targets, which include authorities and companies.”
I am pleased the Herr Remberg decided to come in from the cold and actually take responsibility for these allegations. He doesn’t provide any proof, at least nothing that was referenced in the article. Unless I see some substantive evidence, I can’t be bothered to believe in this. And I won’t accept the argument that revealing the evidence will “compromise” cyber defenses. They’re mostly commercial products.
Governments may have their fair share of cybersmartypants, but hacking is one area where a billion dollar budget can still be trumped by a crafty individual. And China is full of vulnerable PCs, servers, and devices that can be easily used to mount an attack by said crafty individual. But it’s easier to excuse your own incompetence (I recall the German breach involved some idiot opening an infected email attachment) with the specter of insidious Chinese government agencies than to admit to poor training, inadequate security technology, and a generalized incompetence.
But back to Herr Remberg. He has a theory:
“Across the world the People’s Republic of China is intensively gathering political, military, corporate-strategic and scientific information in order to bridge their technological gaps as quickly as possible,” Remberg said.
I am curious as to what technology gaps China is bridging by stealing. Certainly there are concerns as to sensitive military and dual-use technology, but China is hardly a technology backwater. Maybe the target is maglev train testing protocols?
China’s foreign ministry fired right back:
“I’d like to point out that the German side must make clarifications,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news briefing.
“We are very confused and resolutely opposed to such accusations.”
…Liu said Germany must be responsible when making such remarks.
“We will make solemn representations to Germany and asked Germany to clarify these things,” he said.
I bet he will. “Solemn representations” and requests for clarifications adds up to a splitting headache for Germany’s ambassador to China. And Mr. Remberg? I don’t think he’ll be invited to the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.
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2 Responses to “Cyberespionage: J’Accuse!”
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I would be very surprised that not all countries are practising cyberespionage, and other kinds of espionage, either sponsored by the state, or by corporations, or freelancing. This is standard operating procedure for any commercial or state owned enterprise. These issues are raised, not trying to stop the espionage, but to tell their own people that they have not been negligent, for the sake of internal politics.
There is absolutely no need, nor advantage, to show any evidence. When they found some, they should just close the loophole and stop one kind of attack, and prepared for some other attacks from some other origin. It is extremely rare for a company, or a government, to find sufficient evidence to prosecute, unless the thief is really, really stupid.
I don’t need this report, nor any evidence, to belief that China is doing this, just like the US, UK, Germany, Russia… And it is not restricted to business intelligence either. Military, economic,… even just how people walk is good information.
That’s why I was extremely surprised when Deng told reporters that he was surprise at how advanced French manufacturing was when he visited France a few decades ago. Where were Chinese intelligence community ? Anyone could have gone in to a French factory and see what Deng saw at the time.
I agree that spying is ubiquitous. What irritates me is that China is being singled out for it. Without a smoking gun. I don’t doubt that the attacks may have originated from China, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Chinese government is responsible.
I think it’s important to explain how “they” know it was the Chinese government that did this. Unsubstantiated allegations can easily be taken as fact, and that can lead to some uncomfortable saber-rattling (not to mention middle eastern misadventures). No one has to like China, but opinions should be based on facts, not innuendo.
My concern is that this canard will make relations between China and the west more acrimonious. That will only benefit the hardliners, in China and elsewhere.
Thanks for the great comment, sorry for the delay in getting back.
j