France too Falls Prey to Chinese Hackers

Cyber attacks from China seemed to target information systems at France similar to attacks that governments at the UK, US and Germany reported, a high-ranking French security official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on September 8, 2007.

According to the Secretary General of national defense, Francis Delon's confirmation in Le Mode, there were indications that China was involved in trying to infiltrate French government networks, but did not find any involvement of China's military. Agence France-Presse released the story on IOL on September 8, 2007. In fact, there was no direct accusation on Chinese army by any of the affected nations.

The French government has evidences that its information systems had been hacked, like in some other countries, said Francis Delon while confirming the news published by the French newspaper Le Monde.

There are proofs that conform China's involvement. But China does not imply the Chinese government. There is still no indication that the People's Liberation Army of China did the hacking, Delon added.

A source monitoring the issue reported the attacks targeted the public Internet Website of the French defense ministry. However, the site had no secret information. It appears cyber saboteurs made the attack to test the nation's IT defenses.

China's army had been attacking government Websites of the United States, Britain and Germany, according to the recent press reports that quoted unnamed sources from those countries.

At the time when western governments were accusing the Chinese military to be linked with the Website hacks, China said on September 11, 2007 that it too frequently suffered cyber attacks.

Internet hacking is a world affair and China often is a victim of the same, said Jiang Yu, the spokesperson for Chinese foreign ministry at a routine press conference. However, she did not provide the specifics. Forbes.com reported this on September 11, 2007. China's government is always against cyber crimes and the country has strict laws to suppress them, Yu added.

Meanwhile, Pentagon news in TimesOnline reports that a well-designed plan by Chinese military cyber attackers is ready to devastate US' aircraft battle carrier fleet in order to gain some advantage in a possible conflict.

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» SPAMfighter News - 9/24/2007