The Rising Red Threat

China and the Rising Red Cyber Army

Recently we American's saw the president sign into action a new executive order authorizing our security personnel to counter attack or preemptively attack threats to American cyber security.  While we can definitely see wanting to protect our interests, why has this become a big enough issue that we've needed an executive order to protect us? Didn't the internet start out as a way to securely exchange information for the US military?  Unfortunately we're long past that.  Now attacks are no longer about money and trade secrets, now its much more serious:

This is no longer a business issue. For years, victimized American companies preferred to keep quiet, lest they expose their vulnerabilities. But now the government is less comfortable with that silence because the hackers are targeting firms responsible for the American power grid, water supply, and other pieces of critical infrastructure. In one case, “one target was a company with remote access to more than 60 percent of oil and gas pipelines in North America.”

From: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2013/02/china-hacking-and-north-korea.html#ixzz2LOBjbL3N

The fact that an attack from the internet could deny an area water or electricity, often a life or death matter, is simply unacceptable.  This is why action is being taken.  Most recently the Chinese have attacked the New York Times and other big american businesses.   It used to be that firms wouldn't disclose an attack as they believed it would make them look weak, and typically it was only firms with trade secrets the Chinese wanted.  Now however, it is obviously far worse. Its gotten bad enough that the cyber attacks have spill over into the media, with the Chinese making a press statement with the following:

A Chinese ministry spokesperson said claims are "unfounded accusations based on preliminary results," and that "China resolutely opposes hacking actions and has established relevant laws and regulations, and taken strict law enforcement measures to defend against online hacking activities.''

From: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100470478

Many people are unbelieving of this denial... for logical reasons.  To have thousands of attacks come from the same area as a unit of P.L.A. cyber soldiers is a pretty big coincidence, especially in a country known for its "great firewall".  A top security firm, the one that discovered where all the attacks came from responded with:

Mandia even said, "China has a controlled Internet access, everything people do on the Internet is monitored there... So it's hard to believe ... that the Chinese government does not notice thousands of attacks coming from a neighborhood that happens to be co-located with units 61398, it's hard to believe they don't notice."  The long story short becomes, if china has laws that dis-allow these types of attacks, why hasn't it cracked down on cyber terrorists in the SAME AREA as its own cyber army.

From: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100470478

The next few weeks should give us more and more clarity in terms of how the cyber war is going to shape up.  I for one am hopeful that its going to turn into a cold war... rather than computer world war I.