Hackers Recruited for Cyberwarfare
The Times (UK) is is reporting that the Chinese military holds hacking competitions for its cyberwarefare efforts. Citing a former Pentagon professional, the paper says:
Jim Melnick, a recently retired Pentagon computer network analyst, told The Times that the Chinese military holds hacking competitions to identify and recruit talented members for its cyber army.He described a competition held two years ago in Sichuan province, southwest China. The winner now uses a cyber nom de guerre, Wicked Rose. He went on to set up a hacking business that penetrated computers at a defence contractor for US aerospace. Mr Melnick said that the PLA probably outsourced its hacking efforts to such individuals. “These guys are very good,” he said. “We don’t know for sure that Wicked Rose and people like him work for the PLA. But it seems logical. And it also allows the Chinese leadership to have plausible deniability.”
In general I tried to hold judgment on accusations and explanations like these but when they get to the point of public disclosure by top government officials, I tend to give them a little more credence. Here is more from the Times story:
Cyber attacks by China have become so frequent and aggressive that President Bush, without referring directly to Beijing, said this week that “a lot of our systems are vulnerable to attack”. He indicated that he would raise the subject with Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, when they met in Sydney at the Apec summit. Mr Hu denied that China was responsible for the attack on Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary.
This follows on top of diplomatic "discussions" between the German Chancellor and the Chinese Premier about similar cyberattacks.
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