Chinese Hackers Claim Gaining Unauthorized Entry into Pentagon

A group of Chinese hackers has claimed to gain unauthorized entry to several high-protected computer systems of the US including the servers of the Pentagon, as reported by CNN on March 7, 2008.

The hackers' group also said that the Chinese government sometimes pays it secretly to hack into sensitive data and high-security sites. However, the Beijing government refuted these allegations.

According to the leader of hacking group, Xiao Chen, no Website can claim complete safety. Adding further, although many sites have high-level security, they are never free from weaknesses, as reported by DAILYTECH on March 7, 2008.

Xiao Chen is the online name of the hacker who along with his two companions in the group wants to keep their true identity secret. As accords to Western experts, the three individuals belonged to a so called "civilian cyber militia" in China that attack private and government Websites all over the world for fun and sometime for trifle benefit, as reported by CNN on March 7, 2008.

According to one hacker, he formerly served as a computer operator at the People's Liberation Army while another claimed to be a graduate in marketing and Chen said that he was a programmer without a formal training.

Many today regard China as the country engaged in the world's highest cyber crime. A McAfee report came in December 2007 suggested that the Internet would be front for "the next Cold war" because an underground market takes shape for hacking information and tools. In June 2007, when the Pentagon computers were hacked and the US government suspected the Chinese military, Beijing said that the accusations were "groundless" and in turn accused US authority of developing a "Cold War mentality".

In the meantime, in the second week of February 2008, the Pentagon said that "multiple intrusions" hit computer networks in Britain, France, Germany and the United States during 2007 with many of the incidents originating from China.

At a hearing of the congress in Washington, in early March 2008, officials of the administration said that a cyber initiative by the government are lacked the required level. Most alarming, according to the officials, was the absence of a full assessment of damages to the federal networks.

Related article: Chinese Hackers Threatening Korean Game Sites

» SPAMfighter News - 3/18/2008