For some years the Chinese military has been hacking, or attempting to hack, Western computing facilities. In my blog No. 10 I write about C4ISR, where one of the “Cs” is computing. Modern armies, and practically all business rely on computers for multitasks, including highly sensitive transactions, such as transfer of money. When a system is under attack the entire nation’s economy and security is put at risk.
The U.S. for the first time is publicly warning about the Chinese military’s use of civilian computer experts in clandestine cyber attacks aimed at American companies and government agencies. The Pentagon laid out its concerns in the week of August 16 in a carefully worded report.
The People’s Liberation Army, the Pentagon said, is using “information warfare units” to develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems and networks, and those units include civilian computer professionals.
China is developing into an economic superpower, and that growth is allowing the Chinese government to invest more in its military. China has embarked on a massive effort to modernize its military and transform its structure, doctrine and strategy, according to the Penagon report.
The pace of the transformation effort has increased in the last 10 years, and China’s military capabilities have developed to influence events well beyond its borders. The Chinese army now can contribute to international peacekeeping efforts, humanitarian assistance and counterpiracy operations. The United States welcomes these capabilities, and wants to work with China to develop them further, the report says.
However, the report says, other capabilities are more disturbing. China is investing in anti-access technologies that would force U.S. naval and air forces farther from Chinese shores, and has fielded large numbers of short- and intermediate-range missiles and cruise missiles. The Chinese navy has a potent mix of surface ships and submarines and is working to develop naval air wings to operate off an aircraft carrier China bought from the Ukraine in 1998. The Chinese could begin work on an indigenous carrier this year, the report says.
China also is building space and cyber assets, the report says, and the Chinese are still building and launching intelligence satellites. China’s cyber attack capabilities are a mystery, the report acknowledges.
In 2009, numerous computer systems around the world, including those owned by the U.S. government, continued to be the target of intrusions that appear to have originated within the [People’s Republic of China],” the report says, noting that the intrusions seek military and commercial information.
The accesses and skills required for these intrusions are similar to those necessary to conduct computer network attack.
Because no one outside China really knows where the Chinese military buildup will end, transparency in the goals of the transformation would go far in reassuring regional countries and global partners, the report says. In addition,
The limited transparency in China’s military and security affairs enhances uncertainty and increases the potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation.
See http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=60456 for this news and for the entire report, see
Report: Military and Security Deployments Involving the People's Republic of China (http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/2010_CMPR_Final.pdf )
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