![]() Google pointed the finger directly at the Chinese government, a claim that is supported by Tuesday's report. U.S.-China tension was touched off in part by the Aurora attack, in which hackers who were believed to be based in China infiltrated Gmail servers to target Chinese dissidents. trade secrets as well as a crackdown on political dissidents and journalists within the country, with Axiom playing a role. In recent years, the Obama Administration has made a point of calling out China on its alleged cyber spying, which includes the theft of U.S. It is expected they will broach the burgeoning cyber conflict between the U.S. ![]() The report comes as Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama prepare for successive visits to China over the next fortnight. “You see what is clearly a very professional group of people who are changing their tools, using sophisticated attacks, and being highly successful against a range of targets.” ![]() “This is a great example of the capabilities of a well-funded adversary,” said Morgan Marquis-Boire, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, who worked at Google during the Aurora attack. The Axiom hacking group is believed to have ties to the Chinese government and be the most sophisticated cyber-espionage operation emanating from China, the coalition, which includes tech giants Microsoft and Cisco, said in a report. The high-profile espionage case of Presidential Office employee Wang Jen-bin (王仁炳) in 2009, who was later convicted of espionage, was one of the incidents of Chinese infiltration of the civilian government, the official said.A coalition of cyber security companies said Tuesday that a Chinese cyber-espionage syndicate is responsible for planting malicious software (malware) on computers owned by Western government agencies, private companies and human rights groups over the past six years, including the high-profile 2010 Aurora attack on Google. As they have no mechanisms for reporting suspected espionage attempts, the risk of vulnerable civil servants being turned or compromised is substantial,” the official said.Ĭhinese espionage is not limited to attempts to infiltrate the central government, the official said, adding that Beijing’s agents have exploited cross-strait exchange channels to approach and cultivate specific individuals of Aboriginal descent for recruitment as assets or agents. “The main issue for governmental administrative offices is that civil servants have low awareness and the offices lack their own information security systems to protect them from communist spies, beyond the ‘ethics units’ putting in double shifts. Zhou allegedly attempted to “recruit Taiwanese officials working in ministry or department-level organizations in the central government on a long-term basis,” and confidential information entrusted to multiple governmental agencies and employees of educational institutions has been compromised, the official said, citing knowledge of the investigation. The official cited the detention last week of Chinese former student Zhou Hongxu (周泓旭) on suspicion of espionage as evidence that Chinese agents have compromised government offices. Such offices are primary targets, as they are capable of providing sensitive information regarding technological research and development, diplomatic policies and cross-strait affairs, the official said. In addition to military and national security apparatuses, Chinese intelligence operatives have infiltrated the administrative offices of the civilian government, the official said. Eighteen were discovered before August 2009, when mail, commerce and travel channels were opened between Taiwan and China, while 42 have been recorded since then, according to reports.ĭetected Chinese espionage operations represent only the tip of the iceberg, the official said. Taiwanese authorities have uncovered 60 espionage plots since 2002. Taiwan’s national security authorities estimate that about 5,000 individuals are collecting state secrets in Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese government, and the nation’s civilian administration is no less vulnerable or compromised than its military, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.Īlthough 80 percent of all detected incidents of Chinese espionage targeted the military, leaving just 20 percent aimed at the civilian government, the disparity was likely due to the military’s higher detection rate, as it has counterintelligence capabilities that are absent from the government’s administrative offices, the official said. Government offices lack credible information security and are vulnerable to Chinese espionage, an official in the national security establishment said.
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