China Sets Up Military Cyberwarfare Team: Report

[JanjaWeed]

BEIJING- China's military has set up an elite Internet security task force tasked with fending off cyber attacks, state media reported May 27, denying that the initiative is intended to create a "hacker army."

The People's Liberation Army has reportedly invested tens of millions of dollars in the project, which is sure to ring alarm bells around the world among governments and businesses wary of Beijing's intentions.

"Cyber attacks have become an international problem affecting both civilian and military areas," the Global Times quoted China's defense ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng as telling a rare briefing this week. "China is relatively weak in cyber-security and has often been targeted. This temporary program is aimed at improving our defenses against such attacks."

The 30-member "Cyber Blue Team" - the core of the PLA's cyber force - has been organized under the Guangdong military command in the country's south and will carry out "cyber-warfare drills", the newspaper said.

The United States, Australia, Germany and other Western nations have long alleged that hackers inside China are carrying out a wide-range of cyberattacks on government and corporate computer systems worldwide.

But in a commentary, the Global Times hit out at "some foreign media" for interpreting the program as a breeding ground for a "hacker army".

"China's capability is often exaggerated. Without substantiated evidence, it is often depicted by overseas media as the culprit for cyberattacks on the US and Europe," the paper said. "China needs to develop its strong cyber defense strength. Otherwise, it would remain at the mercy of others."

China's military has received annual double-digit increases in its budget over much of the last two decades as it tries to develop a more modern force capable of winning increasingly high-tech wars.

In 2007, the Pentagon raised concerns about a successful Chinese ballistic missile test strike on a satellite. That weapon could be used to knock out the high-tech communications of its enemies.

U.S. computer firm McAfee said in February that hackers from China have also infiltrated the computer networks of global oil companies and stole financial documents on bidding plans and other confidential information.

According to US diplomatic cables obtained and published by WikiLeaks, the United States believes that China's leadership has directed hacking campaigns against U.S. Internet giant Google and Western governments.

In one cable, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said it learned from "a Chinese contact" that the Politburo had led years of hacking into computers of the United States, its allies and Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

China Sets Up Military Cyberwarfare Team: Report - Defense News

 

[axisofevil]

The ony effective countermeasure is for the US, Europe, Australia, India Canada, to unite their resources and work aginst the threat of cyberwarfare. I would've included Russia but you know how hard it is to get them on board. But if they and Eastern Europe are willing.....by bye Chinese threat

 

[Akasa]

The ony effective countermeasure is for the US, Europe, Australia, India Canada, to unite their resources and work aginst the threat of cyberwarfare. I would've included Russia but you know how hard it is to get them on board. But if they and Eastern Europe are willing.....by bye Chinese threat

Australia, Western Europe, Russia, all have cordial relations with China, buddy.

Also read the article. It says that China is setting up cyberwarfare countermeasures.

 

[ZhengHe]

The ony effective countermeasure is for the US, Europe, Australia, India Canada, to unite their resources and work aginst the threat of cyberwarfare. I would've included Russia but you know how hard it is to get them on board. But if they and Eastern Europe are willing.....by bye Chinese threat

India will be going down 1st....bye bye "superpower" India

 

[siegecrossbow]

Is there an ignore thread option? If we don't have it we should get one. Preferably with a thread filter that automatically filters out combinations of "China", "India", "threat", "needles", etc.

 

[S10]

The ony effective countermeasure is for the US, Europe, Australia, India Canada, to unite their resources and work aginst the threat of cyberwarfare. I would've included Russia but you know how hard it is to get them on board. But if they and Eastern Europe are willing.....by bye Chinese threat

Don't cream yourself while in your daydream.

 

[ChinaToday]

The ony effective countermeasure is for the US, Europe, Australia, India Canada, to unite their resources and work aginst the threat of cyberwarfare. I would've included Russia but you know how hard it is to get them on board. But if they and Eastern Europe are willing.....by bye Chinese threat

HaHa only if they trusted each others and that s a big IF

 

[Urbanized Greyhound]

The cyber -domain being an unconventional sort of battlefield ...every "rapidly progressing" nation should have some defensive/offensive measures ....That includes China , India, Russia, any country with a legitimate threat . Cyber -warfare is not covered under Geneva convention , is it ?

Nothing prevents the U.S --from carrying out a massive cyber strike under the cloud of anonymity to try to deactivate Critical Chinese facilities ....nothing prevents say a country like Israel to do the same to eg.Iran as well . Under the circumstances , every country should develop its own set of hackers part of the armed forces to counter suchj threats -- Nothing wrong or unusual in it ....

 

[Urbanized Greyhound]

HaHa only if they trusted each others and that s a big IF

Collaboration in cyber warfare is like collaboration in real warfare --- India was and will always remain outside any power blocs . We will certainly develop our own set of professional hackers in the future to counter other countries if ,need be , but very unlikely to join any inf-warfare group against say , China or any other country .

Same geo-political principles work here .

 

[applesauce]

lol us spys on its closest allies and you think they let India or Russia anywhere near their networks?

 

[casual]

The ony effective countermeasure is for the US, Europe, Australia, India Canada, to unite their resources and work aginst the threat of cyberwarfare. I would've included Russia but you know how hard it is to get them on board. But if they and Eastern Europe are willing.....by bye Chinese threat

hehe, you're funny

do you really think that'll happen when the US can't even pass a bill requiring cyber security of it's own critical infrastructure?

 

[REEVER]

We already do this look at the Iran nuke plant hit with a worm. USA IS ONTOP
OF YOU ALL

 

[aimarraul]

We already do this look at the Iran nuke plant hit with a worm. USA IS ONTOP
OF YOU ALL

oh,we were just wondering who should be responsible for this cyberwar,turns out it was GLA ,what a surprise