Comments on: Security firm's report ties China’s army to hacking attempts against US

By: WinstonSmith2012

WinstonSmith2012 — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 17:16:00 +0000

Reading the report, I’ve discovered why too many of my tech toy user manuals are in incomprehensible Chinglish. Those fluent in English must be going for the higher pay at PLA Unit 61398:

The evidence we have collected on PLA Unit 61398’s mission and infrastructure reveals an organization that:

» Requires personnel proficient in the English language

By: Vincent Litchard

Vincent Litchard — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:28:00 +0000

Sounds like Manidant is marketing itself very well with the cowardly giants. Just blame china for all hacking and make up stuff to sound like professional cybersecurity guards of the internet to make big sales to rich companies. Its a good marketing stratagy, but its creating a lot of fake cold war esque bullshit.

By: spacedmonkey

spacedmonkey — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:35:00 +0000

The constitution specifically gives congress the power to authorize letters of marque and reprisal. I think that could work for us here. Just say that until they stop doing this (which they won’t) we won’t prosecute any Americans for hacking targets in China. So if some kid wants to test their chops, they can do it without risking going to jail, maybe make some money selling the info they get, and if they’re impressive enough, probably get hired by the government to keep doing what they’re doing, but on the down low.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 23:33:00 +0000

I have the opposite reaction. I think that China could send troops to the US and kidnap citizens off the street and the US government would pretend that it wasn’t happening in order to keep our trade/ financial relations with China on good terms.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:58:00 +0000

Besides the fact that I’m squatting here in the corner with a bloody cleaver?

By: perchecreek

perchecreek — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:56:00 +0000

It seems pretty clear to me that Kurt Vonnegut was, in fact, a time traveler. From the Wikipedia synopsis of Vonnegut’s novel, Slapstick:

In the meantime, Western civilization is nearing collapse as oil runs out, and the Chinese are making vast leaps forward by miniaturizing themselves and training groups of hundreds to think as one. Eventually, the miniaturization proceeds to the point that they become so small that they cause a plague among those who accidentally inhale them, ultimately destroying Western civilization beyond repair.

By: peregrinus

peregrinus — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:49:00 +0000

That’s such a Borg question.

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:13:00 +0000

Are you suggesting that powerful interests might manufacture/exaggerate a threat when convenient to do something incredibly stupid, and that the media and politicians would fall right in line? That is strictly tinfoil hat-ville. Btw, can I have some of that tinfoil? I’ve got this cake over here with yellow frosting that I need to put in the fridge. I got the recipe from Judith Miller.

By: hymenopterid

hymenopterid — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:29:00 +0000

So nice of the Chinese government to provide security testing free of charge.

By: Cameron Postelwait

Cameron Postelwait — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:58:00 +0000

i think, therefore i am a Chinese comment bot.

By: Cameron Postelwait

Cameron Postelwait — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:57:00 +0000

seems like too many American corporations rely on China for that to become a common practice.

By: Snig

Snig — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:56:00 +0000

And if all our infrastructure is hackable, how do we know it’s not the actual hacker who’s reporting to us that China was the source. When it was actually Luxembourg or somesuch.

By: Sean McKibbon

Sean McKibbon — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:42:00 +0000

Uh how can we be sure any of us commenting is really us?

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:23:00 +0000

report ties China’s army to hacking attempts against US

We’ve known this for years. Is the NYT just realizing this?

I find the timing of all this hubbub over Chinese hacking, etc. suspicious. /tinfoil hat

This from 6 years ago:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/03/mi5_warns_over_chinese_hack_attacks/

By: vonbobo

vonbobo — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:01:00 +0000

Wouldn’t Mandiant benefit from inflating their targeted numbers? This all feels more like a great marketing job, rather than an indictment against China. Look for yourself, it’s a building with security guards!!!

Not saying they completely faked the data, really I’m just having a hard time trying to decide who to trust.

By the way- remember to always ask first when receiving an attachment in a suspicious email.

By: oasisob1

oasisob1 — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:52:00 +0000

The report helpfully answers this:
“We are frequently asked why it is an ineffective security measure to just block all IP addresses in China from connecting to your network. To put it simply, it is easy for APT1 attackers to bounce or “hop” through intermediary systems such that they almost never connect to a victim network directly from their systems in Shanghai. Using their
immense infrastructure, they are able to make it appear to victims that an attack originates from almost any country they choose.”

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:44:00 +0000

Or pump up (fabricate) claims of it as an excuse for provocative military or political actions. China, Iran/Israel etc…

By: Aloisius

Aloisius — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:16:00 +0000

Espionage is nothing new, but I wonder how long it’ll be before someone declares hacking (especially hacking the military) an act of war.

On a flip side, I wonder how long it’ll be before companies simply start firewalling off China from their services.