The Chinese Cyber-Invasion - Using American Computer Firms

[Guest sandnode]

the White House conducted a 60-day study of how the government can better manage and use technology to protect everything from the electrical grid and stock markets to tax data, airline flight systems, and nuclear launch codes.

 

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09432t.pdf

[Guest JWSmythe]

Think of this. It shouldn't happen, but I know it has. You have two networks jacks on your wall. One is green. One is red. Unclassified machines can be plugged into the green one. Classified machines an be plugged into the red one. A user who's annoyed that he can't be on both with the same machine, yet has two network interfaces on his PC plugs into both. Now, your nice secure network has a compromise. If that unclassified machine, on the unclassified network, becomes compromised, they have a nice portal into the classified network.

[Guest LAW_*]

Here is an interesting story.

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/C...how/4412075.cms

 

The Chinese cyber spies have penetrated so deep into the US system — ranging from its secure defence network, banking system, electricity grid to putting spy chips into its defence planes — that it can cause serious damage to the US any time, a top US official on counter-intelligence has said.

 

“Chinese penetrations of unclassified DoD networks have also been widely reported. Those are more sophisticated, though hardly state of the art,” said National Counterintelligence Executive, Joel Brenner, at the Austin University Texas last week, according to a transcript made available on Wednesday.

 

Listing out some of the examples of Chinese cyber spy penetration, he said: “We’re also seeing counterfeit routers and chips, and some of those chips have made their way into US military fighter aircraft.. You don’t sneak counterfeit chips into another nation’s aircraft to steal data. When it’s done intentionally, it’s done to degrade systems, or to have the ability to do so at a time of one’s choosing.”

 

Referring to the Chinese networks penetrating the cyber grids, he said: “Do I worry about those grids, and about air traffic control systems, water supply systems, and so on? You bet I do. America’s networks are being mapped. There has also been experience of both Chinese and criminal network operations in the networks of some of the banks”.

[Guest Shishir Nagaraja]

Chinese government compromised the computing infrastructure of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. They used social phishing to install rootkits on a number of machines and then downloaded sensitive data. Peoplein Tibet may have died as a result. The compromise was detected and dealt with, butits implications are sobering. It shows how difficult it is to defend sensitive information against an opponent who uses social engineering techniques to install malware.

[BlackSun]

Here is a Symantec video describes the inner workings of the toolset used to create Backdoor.Ghostnet and control compromised computers.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz-gg8hxaVQ

Edited April 19, 2009 by BlackSun

[Guest Argonne]

U.S. Department of Energy laboratories fight off millions of cyber attacks every year, but a near real-time dialog between these labs about this hostile activity has never existed – until now.

 

Scientists at DOE's Argonne National Laboratory devised a program that allows for cyber security defense systems to communicate when attacked and transmit that information to cyber systems at other institutions in the hopes of strengthening the overall cyber security posture of the complex.

 

"The Federated Model for Cyber Security acts as a virtual neighborhood watch program. If one institution is attacked, secure and timely communication to others in the Federation will aide in protecting them from that same attack through active response," cyber security officer Michael Skwarek said.

 

Prior to the development of the Federated Model for Cyber Security, the exchange of hostile activity was solely on the shoulders of the human element. In cyber attacks, every second counts. The ability to securely share such information will assist in strengthening others against similar attacks. With millions of cyber security probes a day, the human element will not be successful alone.

 

"This program addresses the need for the exchange of hostile activity information with the goal of reducing the time to react across the complex. History has shown that hostile activity is often targeted at more than one location, and having our defenses ready and armed will assist greatly," Skwarek said.

 

Currently, the program is capable of transmitting information regarding hostile IP addresses and domain names, and will soon be able to share hostile email address and web URLs to others in the Federation.

 

For developing the program, Skwarek, along with Argonne's cyber security team members Matt Kwiatkowski, Tami Martin, Scott Pinkerton, Chris Poetzel, Gene Rackow and Conrad Zadlo, won the DOE's 2009 Cyber Security Innovation and Technology Achievement Award.

 

The Federated Model for Cyber Security has proved to be an important cyber security and communication tool. Use in the private sector, as well as in institutions with heavy collaborative efforts, can realize an operational gain by leveraging the power of sharing and learning from others on what they see and defend against on a daily basis.

[Guest Human]

Golden Shield Project, just call it for what it is.

 

The answer you are looking for to counter golden shield is tech Shield.

 

Good bye!!!

[Guest Human]

Ours is called a different name, but its still the same thing.

I don't like where we are headed.

 

Okay that's it.

[Guest Mork - From Ork]

The same thing happened to my landlord. If Verizon's advertisers pay per "visit" or ad view, then it would appear as though Verizon is stealing money from its advertisers by forcing us (paying Fios customers) to register billable new "visits" to their search site. They are doing this only when fios customers go to a non-existant site, that would normally bring up a basic html page located on your own hard drive, showing a "404" error message. They are re-routing all 404 error messages to their search site. They in-turn bill their advertisers more dollars based on fios customers all being forced to view another ad, giving them yet another billable "visit" upon every typo or mis-entry.

 

I wonder if those advertisers are aware of the low quality of the "ad view" they are paying for, when one of us is cunningly, and unexpectedly, is forced into viewing their ad? I personally consider those companies, along with Verizon for doing this, as TOTAL SCUM. I wonder if Verizon will limit my bandwidth after they read this!

 

 

From what I understand, they really just want us to use their search page so they can sell our search histories to the highest bidder instead of Google!

 

And yes, who knows what else the Chinese has chosen to put in our new Chinese verizon routers, much less America's new poisoned chinese drywall ( catastrophic financial and American health warfare? ).

 

 

Maybe we should all learn Mandarin now.

[BlackSun]

The Chinese are getting really bold. Here is a statement from Google on their recent Cyber attack. It appears that China's aim is to control what people say outside China about them.

 

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html

 

Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident--albeit a significant one--was something quite different.

 

First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses--including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors--have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.

 

Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.

 

Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users' computers.

 

We have already used information gained from this attack to make infrastructure and architectural improvements that enhance security for Google and for our users. In terms of individual users, we would advise people to deploy reputable anti-virus and anti-spyware programs on their computers, to install patches for their operating systems and to update their web browsers. Always be cautious when clicking on links appearing in instant messages and emails, or when asked to share personal information like passwords online.

 

We have taken the unusual step of sharing information about these attacks with a broad audience not just because of the security and human rights implications of what we have unearthed, but also because this information goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech. In the last two decades, China's economic reform programs and its citizens' entrepreneurial flair have lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese people out of poverty. Indeed, this great nation is at the heart of much economic progress and development in the world today.

 

We launched Googlespam in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that "we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China."

 

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Googlespam, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Googlespam, and potentially our offices in China.

 

The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences. We want to make clear that this move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Googlespam the success it is today. We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised.

[Luke_Wilbur]

I guess this was the financial traders answer to

 

http://www.google.com/finance?q=baidu

 

Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) is recently trading at $426.52 in pre-open trading, above its close of $386.50.

 

Baidu, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU), the leading Chinese language Internet search provider, today announced several changes in senior management. Mr. Haoyu Shen, vice president of business operations, has been promoted to senior vice president.

 

Mr. Zhan Wang, senior director of business products, has been promoted to vice president.

 

Baidu also announced the resignation of Chief Operating Officer Dr. Peng Ye. Dr. Ye's resignation is due to personal reasons and is effective as of the date of this announcement.

 

Haoyu Shen joined Baidu in 2007 and has led the planning and execution of the company's search engine marketing platform and associated business alliances. Zhan Wang joined Baidu in 2000 and has been a key driver of the company's commercial product developments.

 

"Haoyu and Zhan have proven track records in driving our business success and I am excited to see them make further contributions in their expanded roles," said Robin Li, Baidu's chairman and chief executive officer.

 

"We thank Peng for his contributions to the company over the last two years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors," Mr. Li added.

 

About Baidu

 

Baidu, Inc. is the leading Chinese language Internet search provider. As a technology-based media company, Baidu aims to provide the best way for people to find information. In addition to serving individual Internet search users, Baidu provides an effective platform for businesses to reach potential customers. Baidu's ADSs, each of which represents one Class A ordinary share, are currently trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "BIDU."

 

Safe Harbor Statement

 

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Baidu's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Among other things, quotations from management in this announcement contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward- looking statements. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: our growth strategies; our future business development, including development of new products and services; our ability to attract and retain users and customers; competition in the Chinese and Japanese language Internet search markets; competition for online marketing customers; changes in our revenues and certain cost or expense items as a percentage of our revenues; the outcome of ongoing, or any future, litigation or arbitration, including those relating to intellectual property rights; the expected growth of the Chinese language Internet search market and the number of Internet and broadband users in China; Chinese governmental policies relating to the Internet and Internet search providers and general economic conditions in China, Japan and elsewhere. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in our annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is as of January 6th, 2010, and Baidu undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

 

 

For investor inquiries please contact:

 

In China:

Mr. Victor Tseng

Baidu, Inc.

Tel: +86-10-5992-7244

Email: ir@baidu.com

 

Ms. Cynthia He

Brunswick Group LLC

Tel: +86-10-6566-9504

Email: che@brunswickgroup.com

 

In the U.S.:

Ms. Kate Tellier

Brunswick Group LLC

Tel: +1-212-333-3810

Email: ktellier@brunswickgroup.com

 

[Luke_Wilbur]

http://www.google.com/finance?q=google

 

 

Google Inc.

(Public, NASDAQ:GOOG)

 

590.57

+3.48 (0.59%)

Real-time: 12:09PM EST

[Luke_Wilbur]

http://www.china.org...nt_19238308.htm

 

 

China's Internet is open and welcomes international companies, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday,just two days after Google issued a statement saying it might quit China.

 

Spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news briefing that China encouraged development of the Internet.

 

"China's Internet is open," said Jiang. "China has tried creating a favorable environment for Internet,"said Jiang while responding to a question on Google's possible retreat.

 

"China welcomes international Internet companies to conduct business within the country according to law," she said. "China's law prohibits cyber crimes including hacker attacks."

 

Google's corporate development andchief legal officer, David Drummond, posted a statement on the company's official blog on Tuesday, indicating the possibility that Google may "shut down Google spam, and potentially our offices in China."

 

The statement said that its disputes with the government and unidentified attacks targeting Google's services in China forced the company to make the review of "the feasibility of our business operations in China."

 

Google sent a short statement to Xinhua Wednesday, saying, "We are proud of our achievements in China. Currently we are reviewing the decision and hope for a resolution."

 

According to the iResearch Consulting Group, the Chinese search engine market reached nearly 7 billion yuan (about 1 billion U.S. dollars) in 2009, and Google took 32.8 percent of the market in the third-quarter while China's home-grown search engine Baidu claimed 63.8 percent.

 

Address:

 

English Editorial Department

China Internet Information Center

6th Floor, Building B, 89 Xi Sanhuan Bei Lu

Beijing 100089

China

Edited January 14, 2010 by Luke_Wilbur

[Luke_Wilbur]

http://www.china.org...nt_19236193.htm

 

China seeking clarity on Google intentions January-14-2010 An official with China's State Council Information Office Wednesday said Chinese Internet authorities were seeking more information on Google's statement that it could quit China.

 

The high-ranking official, who requested anonymity, made the remarks in a phone interview with Xinhua after Google's corporate development and chief legal officer, David Drummond, posted a statement on the company's official blog, saying itwas to "review the feasibility of our business operations in China."

 

"It is still hard to say whether Google will quit China or not. Nobody knows," the Chinese official said.

 

He refused to reveal more, but promised to follow the case and accept more interviews if possible.

 

The China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center deputy director Xi Wei told Xinhua: "I am sorry, Ican't say anything. I am not clear about the case."

 

Google's possible retreat from China has prompted the company's 700 China staff to fear for their jobs.

 

"We were told that Google might quit China at a general meeting Wednesday morning, and all of us feel very sad," said an employee with Google's Beijing office on condition of anonymity.

 

Drummond's post said that its disputes with the government and unidentified attacks targeting Google's services in China forced the company to make the review.

 

However, Google spam was still posting this rider on its searches as of 6:15 p.m. Wednesday: "According to local laws, regulations and policies, some research results are not shown."

 

Google had been blamed by the government for showing too many links to pornographic contents and breaking the law.

 

Drummond's post also indicated the possibility that Google may "shut down Google spam, and potentially our offices in China."

 

If Google did quit China, about 700employees with the company's offices around China would lose theirjobs, the anonymous employee said.

 

Google sent a short statement to Xinhua Wednesday, reads that "We are proud of our achievements inChina. Currently we are reviewing the decision and hope for aresolution."

 

Drummond's post also said Google wouldtry to negotiate with the Chinese government for "more favorable"operating conditions in China.

 

Guo Ke, professor of mass communication at Shanghai International Studies University, said it was"almost impossible" for Google to quit China and also impossible forthe Chinese government to give up its management right over the Internet.

 

"It will not make any difference to the government if Google quits China, however Google will suffer a huge economic loss from leaving the Chinese market," Guo said.

 

According to the iResearch Consulting Group, the Chinese search engine market reached nearly 7 billion yuan(about 1 billion US dollars) in 2009, and Google took 32.8 percent in revenue in the third-quarter while China's home-grown search engine Baidu claimed 63.8 percent.

 

"I think Google is just playing cat and mouse, and trying to use netizens' anger or disappointment as leverage," Guo said.

 

Millions of Chinese are fans and loyal users of Google and its services such as Gmail, Gtalk and Picasa. Many Chinese journalists, like other users, rely on Google Docs to save useful information and contacts.

So far, few comments were available from Chinese Internet companies or related government departments.

 

Zhang Yi, an employee with Baidu.com, Google's biggest rival in China, told Xinhua she had heard of Google's statement but would not comment.

 

An official with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the ministry's spokes personwas not available for comment.

 

If Google quit, it would leave a huge hole in the market for other search engines in China to fill, said Liu Dan, a researcher with a Beijing-based consulting company affiliated to the China Center for Information Industry Development.

 

"The Chinese market welcomes competition, but maybe Google should also think more about adapting toChina, rather than just working in its U.S. way without flexibility,"Liu said.

Edited January 14, 2010 by Luke_Wilbur

[Luke_Wilbur]

I would agree with this statement 100%.

 

The Chinese market welcomes competition, but maybe Google should also think more about adapting to China, rather than just working in its U.S. way without flexibility.

 

Google and China are both not flexible. People fear and admire both. I know that I generally do.

Edited January 14, 2010 by Luke_Wilbur

[Luke_Wilbur]

Will Google shed its Netizen beliefs for opportunity? Which provides more Liberty and just plain fun? The Campus Corporation or Autocratic Socialism?

[Luke_Wilbur]

I pick the Bohemian lifestyle myself. It's part of my blood line.

 

I do appreciate the fact that China does not block DCpages.

 

http://www.baidu.com/s?wd=dcpages.com

 

Washington DC Pages - District of Columbia Community

About DCpages.com Since 1994 Washington DC City Pages has been the official web community publication for the District of Columbia. In an online world ...

www.dcpages.com/ 37K 2010-1-12 - 百度快照

以下是网页中包含"dcpages.com"的结果:

 

Google Translation:

 

 

The following is a page that contains "dcpages.com" results:

Edited January 15, 2010 by wiley

[Luke_Wilbur]

I am also grateful Google does not block DCpages.com

 

 

Washington DC Pages - District of Columbia Community - 14 visits - 12/26/09

Washington DC Community Pages is the premier web publication for the city of Washington and the District of Columbia.www.dcpages.com/

 

But, Google does make it difficult to cut and paste its results on this message boards.

[Guest 33]

http://www.baidu.com...ssageboards.com

 

DCMessageBoards.com have been filtered out of Baidu. The Chinese government has taken offense on the human rights issues users have posted on this web site.

[Guest Human]

The Chinese government best understand that Honor works both ways.

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.baidu.com...ssageboards.com

 

DCMessageBoards.com have been filtered out of Baidu. The Chinese government has taken offense on the human rights issues users have posted on this web site.

[Guest Human]

To the Chinese government; You see, the general public really does not understand what's going on in cyber space, and considering that someone in here posted that you are in Fact watching is what I was really after.

 

Seeing is Believing. <GOT-YA>

 

By the way; I did save this post with the link as an example as to what you are doing, and will spread it around to others in my world. Even the folks who use intranet will understand just how serious the internet can get.

[Guest Walter]

China wants to be the world's leading economic power by 2020. For that they need a speedy and intensive transfer of high-level technological information which is available in developed industrial lands, if you can get your hands on it.

[Guest LAW]

Here some White House Press gaggle about the subject.

 

Briefing by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, 1/14/10

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

 

Q Two questions -- one is on China and Google. Is there any concern within this administration that this issue could explode to affect the rest of the relationship with China, particularly if it gets wings or legs on Capitol Hill or within the American public? And how do you --

 

MR. GIBBS: Wings or legs, how?

 

Q I mean, if this strikes a chord with the American public or with Congress.

 

MR. GIBBS: Oh, I'm sure it does.

 

Q This -- I mean, you've talked a lot --

 

MR. GIBBS: I think the notion that -- right, I think the notion that -- the notion of what we've seen happen, I can't imagine that it hasn't struck a chord. You heard -- Helene, you heard the President in Shanghai take a question from the Internet about the universal right of a free Internet. He strongly supports that, and we support Google's action in a decision to no longer censure searches that happen using the Google platform.

 

Whether or not it affects our relationship -- look, we have, the President has, strong beliefs about the universal rights of men and women throughout the globe. Those don't -- those aren't carved out for certain countries. That's why the President answered the way he did in a town hall in Shanghai about the importance of that freedom.

 

Q So how do you manage -- how do you keep it contained, then, to just -- you have several different issues with China. You have China on Iran, you have the Google-China issue, but if you start -- if we start getting things coming out of Congress, for instance, and this starts to actually strike more of a cord with the public, do you think -- how do you manage the larger relationship?

 

MR. GIBBS: What do you mean -- do you mean like legislation or -- I don't know what.

 

Q I mean, are you worried at all about managing this within the frame of the larger relationship?

 

MR. GIBBS: I think our concern is with actions that threaten the universal rights of a free Internet.

[Guest China Daily]

http://www.chinadaily.comspam/china/2010-01/22/content_9364327.htm

 

The Internet originated on American soil. In 1969, the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Defense Department established the world's first testing packet-switched network (PSN) to connect four universities on US soil. The world saw a remarkable expansion of the scale and number of Internet users from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. In September 1989, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was founded with a grant from the US Department of Commence to administer the Internet terminal server. Over the past 40 years, the US has been dominating the world Internet as the core technique holder with an inherent advantage of being the cradle of the Internet.

 

There are 13 terminal servers in the world to keep the Internet running, with a master server and nine of the 12 secondary servers stationed in the US. In terms of technique, the network of a country will disappear from the world Internet if its domain name registry is blocked or deleted from the terminal server. This kind of conduct is not legally binding with the law of any country except ICANN. In April 2004, Libya was unseen on the Internet for three days after the collapse of the domain name registry of the country "LY" caused by a domain administration dispute.

 

Concerns about the US monopoly of the domain name server (DNS) system grew among other nations as much as their reliance on the Internet for issues ranging from politics and the economy to defense and the general society. Years ago, there was a proposal that the Internet be administered by the United Nations or under international cooperation. The European Union insisted that the World Wide Web is an international resource that should be jointly managed by all nations. Some developing countries pointed out that at the early stage of Internet development, developed countries seized large amounts of domain names, leaving a limited few for them, and demanded a share with the US over Internet administration. American officials opposed the suggestion.

 

The US Defense Strategy Review in March 2005 stated that Internet space should have the same priority as continental, marine, aerial and outer space jurisdictions for the US to maintain a decisive superiority. A statement from Washington on June 30, 2005, made it clear that the US government would maintain its control over the DNS indefinitely; stating that a transfer of its management to UN or international cooperative models would impede the free flow of information, lead to easy manipulation of the Internet and make global supervision more difficult.

 

In an attempt to thwart the World Summit on the Information Society held in Tunis in November 2005, then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote to then European Union president and British foreign minister that her government in Washington backed Internet administration and coordination by ICANN (an alleged NGO which is actually a quasi-government organization with the US Department of Commerce). Rice said management by private corporations would guarantee the safety and stability of the Internet, while the alternative choice of an inter-government mechanism would be an obstacle to Internet development. At the same time, the US Congress passed a bill by a vote of 423 to zero urging a manifesto by the White House that American control over Internet is inviolable. US Rep. John Taylor Doolittle, a Republican from California, said the United States invented the Internet and described it as a gift to the world based on American taxpayers' money. He said he opposed any move to transfer the country's control to the UN.

 

The control of the Internet plays a strategic role for US. Using the internet, the US can intercept information via the net, export US values and opinions, support a "Color Revolution", feed the opposition powers and rebels against anti-US governments, interfere with other countries' internal affairs and make proactive attacks on enemy's communication and directing networks. James-Adams, a famous military forecaster, wrote in his book, The Next World War, these words: "The computer is the weapon for the future war and there is no virtual front line, as the traditional battle and the byte will take the bullet's role to grab control of the air."

 

US companies intend to make preparations for future global information control and sanctions during the progress of research and manufacture under the direction of the US government. As early as 2002, a CIA Internet spying plot was disclosed by the British media, saying the CIA sought to collect information by breaking into giant companies, banks and governmental organs and organizations across the world. Under the cover of a high-tech civil company, the CIA took cooperated with a software development company in the Silicon Valley to design software "bugs" to collect information via the Internet. The spying software binding with normal software would install automatically once a netizen started to use the normal software.

 

The New York Times reported in December, 2005 that the CIA cooperated with the country's telecom enterprises to invent a computer program capable of intercepting Internet communications. The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS TV) claimed on Jan 11, 2006, that the CIA had established a special institution for the interception of information from other countries by using high-tech means. The institution's person in charge said in an interview with CBS that the CIA had obtained a great amount of information of great importance. Although Iran had been trying to hide its nuclear research and development work, the CIA found ways to get first-hand information and photos of its nuclear weapons work. The adoption of the interception technology helped the CIA get into the door of Iran's secret nuclear experiment after the execution of a CIA informant. He added that the CIA had never stopped its supervisory control over Iran since the wide adoption of the Internet and had built three tape libraries to store the information collected.

 

In the New York Times' words, social networking sites, as a new Internet favorite in the 21st century, have played a big role in protests in Georgia, Egypt and Iceland. The unsuccessful "Color Revolution" in Moldova in April 2009 was also called the "Twitter Revolution" because of the involvement of Twitter, a popular US-based Internet social networking site. There are people at the US-based Soros Open Society Institute who are in charge of boosting so-called "Democratic movement" in a "closed society" in the US. Iran had been in a turbulent situation after its election in June 2009, as the opposition party was spreading false messages, venting their discontent and holding protests on social networking sites such as Twitter and YouTube. The US government thought it such an effective tool to use against Iran that it even asked Twitter to postpone its regular maintenance date on June 15, saying, "Iran is in a defining moment, and Twitter is playing such a vital part in it, can you let it just work as usual?" The founder of Twitter felt excited to see that its site had become the "political tool" of the US government.

 

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Twitter and other social networking sites are "strategic assets of great importance" because "these new technologies make it harder for the 'dictator regimes' to control information". A former intelligence official said the channeling of US ideology via the Internet is much easier than sending spies to target countries or training local agents in target countries who identify with US ideology. The move the US government made in June 2009 -- when it dissented over the Chinese government's order to install the filtering software Green Dam and pressured China's government for interfering in the freedom on the 'Net and the freedom of information flow -- is probably related to its intention to infiltrate China.

 

According to a Hong Kong media agency, the CIA invests tens of millions of US dollars every year to aid "Chinese net traitors" to infiltrate Chinese net users with US ideology. They haunt major Chinese forums and portals. A website called "Wazhe Online" (Chinese Pinyin) is a secret mission with the cooperation of US government institutions and overseas "Tibetan splittist organizations" with the tasks of agitating, deluding, infiltrating and instigating Chinese net users, making up rumors to initiate riots and collecting information via the Internet. A Tibetan youth who once worked with one organization said it is an online spy agency which is supported by the US financially, controlled by the Americans and serves the Americans. A commentary on Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao said those who publish stories sensitive to China's policies on the net have complex backgrounds and are hired by US and Japanese spy agencies.

 

US State Secretary Hillary Clinton has also attached importance to the Internet after taking office. She claimed that it's necessary to deal with the countries that roll back US media with the force of the Internet, especially making use of Facebook, YouTube, Flicker and Twitter to send voices from the US.

 

Former US President George W. Bush issued National Security Presidential Directive 16 (NSPD-16) to set up the first hacker force in American history, as well as of world history, in 2002. With the technology advantages, the US Department of Defense (DoD) advanced the idea of cyber warfare in 2004. In the summer of the same year, Bush signed a secret document which agreed to allow the DoD to launch a "hacker-style" devastation attacking enemies' computers. At the beginning of 2008, Bush again allowed the US forces to launch the cyber-attacks initially with the regard to giving the DoD a greater counter-power on the network. He demanded the forces to have the capability of accessing any open or closed long-distance computer network, and then maintain "complete concealment" and "quietly steal information" to destroy enemies' computer systems, destroy their command system, and even control their business and government affairs networks. The Air Force Cyber Command was founded on Sept 18, 2008, with the mission of defending their own network security and also attacking others.

 

US President Barack Obama repeatedly stressed the importance of the Internet during his campaign. He asked the relevant departments to assess the security of the American network, and to prepare for the implementation of information hegemony to continue the work of controlling the new generation of Internet Root Servers. The assessment report released by the US government on May 29, 2009, said that cyberspace threats have become one of the most serious economic and military threats facing the United States. The report emphasized that the US must show the world they were seriously responding to the challenge.. Against this background, Microsoft announced the closure of MSN services for Cuba, Iran, Syria, Sudan and the DPRK. But the world opinion considers this as information sanction instead of meeting a challenge.

 

A report from the New York Times on May.31, 2009, claims that almost all large military enterprises -- including Northrop Grumman Corp, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Co -- have network contracts with the intelligence agencies of the US military. The first two enterprises engage in "offensive cyber war", which includes stealing other countries' sensitive information or paralyzing their networks by developing software tools after finding vulnerabilities in their computer systems.

 

The US Department of Defense announced a plan to establish the "United States Cyber Command" on June 23, 2009, in order to gain advantage in the field. Pentagon spokesman Whitman said the new command is going to "focus on protection". Only they themselves believe such a word. It is clear that the aim of founding the new command is to integrate the high-tech military units in different parts of the country and to strengthen defense. More importantly, it aims to improve the offensive ability and launch a preemptive cyber attack against "enemy countries" if necessary. For a long time in the past, the Pentagon has stressed that Internet is part of war and is a "military front". Before the first Gulf War, the CIA had planted a "virus chip" in the printers purchased by Iraq. They activated the virus using remote control technology before launching the strategic bombing. Then the air defense control system of Iraq suffered a failure. According to the estimation of defense expert Joel Harker, who has been studying the hacker program of the US military for 13 years, the US now has about 80,000 personnel engaging in cyber warfare. In terms of the "weapons" for cyber warfare, they have developed more than 2,000 computer viruses which could be used in cyber attacks such as Worms, Trojans, Logic Bombs and trap door viruses.

[Guest Don]

Much of the information in this article is out of date (the large majority of DNS root servers are located out of the United States - they're located on every continent, in dozens of countries) - or false (80,000 American military hackers?) conspiracy theory.