Explore the latest news and trends  

Sign up for our weekly security newsletter


Be the first to receive important updates on security





Send

Merkel’s Visit to China Interrupted by Hacking Charges

Chancellor Angela Marker's visit has been interrupted by a report in SPIEGEL which claims that Chinese People's Liberation Army Spy Program has infected the several computers of German government.

This shocking news about the spying by Chinese computers in Germany has been brought forth only few hours before Merkel flew for Beijing for a visit meant to discuss about the 2008 Olympic Games and climate change.

Magazine Der Spiegel reveals that the Trojan Spy software, masquerading as Word or Power Point programs, was developed by Chinese People's Liberation Army. Further and had been found in the PC of Chancellor's office and the German Foreign, Research and Development and Economics ministries.

A probe into the matter by the Federal Data Protection Office and German Intelligence has shown that the Chinese were accessing the program primarily for large-scale industrial spying. It also discloses that this computer spying was conducted everyday from Canton, Lanzhou in North West China, and Beijing.

Further, Mrs. Merkel denied to comment on the magazine's revelations but strongly point out that computer spying would be at its peak on her Beijing schedule. She said to ZDF television that Germany is working to make sure its intellectual property is saved in its long relations with China. She has also commanded to follow normal rules, as per the news of Independent on August 27, 2007.

A spokesperson from the German Interior Ministry has informed that espionage bugs have been first found in the computer systems of Government in May 2007. After that, the Government summons its team of data protection, which succeeded in preventing almost 160 GB of data from disappearing. However, the spokesperson did not comment on the origin of Trojan.

The experts of German computer did not agree with the Government's claims of no damage occurred due to computer spying. Der Spiegel has also talked about an unnamed official of Germany who claimed that China was involved previously also before its spying programs came into light in May 2007.

On the other side, the German politicians were shocked to these disclosures. The conservative head of the Government's foreign policy committee, Ruprecht Polenz, said that this is not a small issue which can be ignored and can be easily forgotten. He said that they should adapt serious actions to prevent this kind of activity in future.

Related article: Marshal Identifies Six Botnets Spamming 85% of World Spam

» SPAMfighter News - 9/10/2007

3 simple steps to update drivers on your Windows PCSlow PC? Optimize your Slow PC with SLOW-PCfighter!Email Cluttered with Spam? Free Spam Filter!

Dear Reader

We are happy to see you are reading our IT Security News.

We do believe, that the foundation for a good work environment starts with fast, secure and high performing computers. If you agree, then you should take a look at our Business Solutions to Spam Filter & Antivirus for even the latest version of Exchange Servers - your colleagues will appreciate it!

Go back to previous page
Next