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China Repeats Denial of Military Hacking

Posted on: Thursday, 6 September 2007, 15:05 CDT

BEIJING - A Chinese official on Thursday repeated China's denial that it has hacked into other countries' government and military computer networks.

Reports in British and German newspapers this summer have cited unidentified intelligence and other officials saying government and military networks in Germany, the United States and Britain had been broken into by hackers backed by the Chinese army.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the government "has all along been opposed to and forbidden any cyber crimes."

"To say that the military of China has made cyber attacks against foreign government networks is groundless and irresponsible and born out of ulterior motives," Jiang said at a regularly scheduled news conference.

China's military has openly discussed using cyber attacks as a means of harrying or defeating a more powerful conventional military. In a 1999 paper on unconventional strategies titled "Unlimited Warfare," two top Chinese military figures wrote that a hacker could have more power than a nuclear bomb.

Jiang indicated that, even when the issue came up during a meeting last month between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Merkel didn't demand an investigation.

"According to my knowledge, China's police have not received any requests from relevant countries for a joint investigation," Jiang said.

China's motives for hacking could include stealing secrets or confidential technology; probing for system weaknesses and placing hidden viruses that could be activated in a conflict, computer security experts said. But hackers in other countries also could use computers in China to disguise themselves.

The U.S. Defense Department confirmed on Tuesday that there was an international cyber attack on the Pentagon in June, but a spokesman wouldn't identify the country where it originated.

"It is often difficult to pinpoint the true origin of an intrusion into computer systems and even more difficult to tie the intrusion to a specific nation or government," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

In a report this year, security software maker Symantec Corp. listed China as having the second most malicious computer activity in the world, after the United States.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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