Security war between the US and China
5/8/15
US officials have recently accused a Chinese soldier who stole
confidential data from a military computer network of Washington. Along with the previously messy,
this case shows that the controversy involving network espionage between two
leading powers is increasingly tense.
According to
Reuters, on July 28 the US
Justice Department accused Mr. Wei Chen, a former Chinese military personnel
with the crime to copy confidential data from a US
military computer when he was a defense contractor for this country in Kuwait
in 2013. Mr. Wei Chen, who lives in the state of Massachusetts,
was accused of dishonest declaration and destruction of the US military’s computers. The press
release of the US
Justice Department said Wei Chen had copied secret files from the computer to
his personal storage device and tried to hide this behavior by deleting history.
It is noteworthy that although he has already had US citizenship, Mr. Wei Chen
previously served in an air defense unit of the Chinese army in the period from
1971 to 1976. It is reported that Mr. Wei Chen did release this information
when working at Camp Buehring in Kuwait.
According to
judicial authorities in the state of Massachusetts,
if military personnel and contractors of
the US Department of Defense deliberately violate network security policy and
remove tracks, they will be charged and prosecuted. In the case of Wei Chen, if
he is found guilty, the 61-year-old man will face a prison sentence of up to 15
years.
In fact, so far
the US and China has undergone no less
controversial for the theft of confidential data or the allegations relating to
network espionage. Typically in last June, the US was shaken when hackers broke
into the database of the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and stole
personal data of at least 4 million related state workers including retired
employees. In addition, 750,000 records of civilian employees of the US Defense
Department were compromised. The US
said that China is behind
this incident but the Beijing
denied all allegations.
Just a few days later,
the United States continued to accuse Chinese hackers of possessing sensitive
information of about 14 million federal employees, including intelligence and
military personnel who had undergo security background checks before officially
working.
About a month
earlier, US authorities also accused six Chinese citizens of stealing secrets
from two companies operating in the technology sector, Avago Technologies Ltd
and Skyworks Solutions Inc. Both companies are focused on developing the
technology to be used primarily on mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets,
and global positioning satellites (GPS) and for military purposes.
In May 2014, five
Chinese military officers were accused by a federal grand jury in the US city of Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania of
joining network espionage aimed at US corporations. Washington
said that, although they had never set foot on US territory but these people were
attacking computer systems of major American corporations and companies to
steal information about design of nuclear plants, the production process of
solar products and other trade secrets. The “victims” in this case included six
US
groups and companies as follows: Alcoa World Alumina, Westinghouse Electric,
USSteel Group Corp, Allegheny Technologies, SolarWorld Group and United
Steelworkers Union.
The above incident
took place in the context of the US is increasingly focused on
preventing economic and military espionage. This is also a problem that Washington considered
top national security. Talking about the situation of economic espionage cases
threatening the US
in recent years, Spokesman of US State Department Jeff Rathke has declared
recently that the government of President Barak Obama “will do everything to
protect the trade secrets of US companies. This is a vital issue for the United States”.
Whether
allegations that the US
launched is right or wrong, it is clear that cyber security is one of the
emerging issues in US-China relations, and it will probably continue to be a
controversial topic, even less hinders diplomatic efforts between the two
countries in the future.
All comments [ 10 ]
The Chinese intelligence threat is set to change dramatically as hackers believed to be linked to China’s civilian intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), acquired millions of personal records from the U.S.
Although the full extent of the damage remains unknown, fears have emerged about the compromise of data gathered during security clearance background checks, including foreign national contacts.
Security experts are right to suggest this information is a treasure trove for an intelligence service trying to penetrate the U.S. national security community.
The OPM data offers a way for Chinese intelligence to focus on Americans that matter rather than relying on the creativity of individual agents to find ways to bridge China’s domestic intelligence base with national security professionals abroad.
Chinese collectors in cyberspace have made headlines every month as governments and companies admitted gaping breaches of information.
In 2010, U.S. counterintelligence caught Shriver during his background and security check while applying to work for the CIA.
The money may not seem like much; however, multiply those costs by even a few attempts and such failed efforts become costly.
Politicization may be a feature of a communist system’s security apparatus, but Deng Xiaoping created the MSS in 1983 to move Chinese intelligence away from internal party politics and refocus it on legitimate counterespionage and intelligence-gathering abroad.
Earlier this year, another vice minister, Ma Jian, became mixed up in a corruption investigation involving crooked real estate dealings and was removed from office.
The MSS might weather such a storm if its intelligence operations bore more fruit, but, as is, the Chinese leadership may be wondering whether the MSS continues to be effective.
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