Chinese Pentagon Hacking

According to the on-line edition of the Financial Times of London, computer hackers have broken into the Pentagon's Computer Network.

The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American ­officials.

The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defence secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack.

Current and former officials have told the Financial Times an internal investigation has revealed that the incursion came from the People’s Liberation Army [PLA].

But this story does not end with Pentagon Hacking. Seems the Chinese have other interests too.

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, raised reports of Chinese infiltration of German government computers with Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, in a visit to Beijing, after which the Chinese foreign ministry said the government opposed and forbade “any criminal acts undermining computer systems, including hacking”.

In defense the Beijing Government, they claim that they are often targets of Hackers themselves. Kind of like well we all do it, so what's the big deal.

The PLA regularly probes US military networks – and the Pentagon is widely assumed to scan Chinese networks – but US officials said the penetration in June raised concerns to a new level because of fears that China had shown it could disrupt systems at critical times.

Pentagon officials claim most of the Hacked information was "unclassified". In addition, Cyber Criminals often mask their Hacking by making the break-ins look like the work of someone else, such as a foreign government.

Hackers from numerous locations in China spent several months probing the Pentagon system before overcoming its defences, according to people familiar with the matter.

If sensitive information was compromised, few in Government would admit it. One area of concern, however, is the current use of BlackBerries. The National Security Council is considering whether restrictions on these devices may become necessary.