DHARAMSHALA, May 7: The United States has for the first time directly accused China’s military of cyberespionage in a report published by the Pentagon on Monday.
The Pentagon’s annual report to the US Congress, “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2013,” has charged China’s military of attacking American government computer systems and defense contractors, saying that the information targeted could be used to bolster China’s defense and technology industries and to support military planning.
“In 2012, numerous computer systems around the world, including those owned by the U.S. government, continued to be targeted for intrusions, some of which appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military,” the nearly 100-page report said.
The Pentagon described China’s primary goal as stealing industrial technology, but said many intrusions also seemed aimed at obtaining insights into American policy makers’ thinking.
“China is using its computer network exploitation capability to support intelligence collection against the U.S. diplomatic, economic, and defense industrial base sectors that support U.S. national defense programs,” the report said.
The Defense Department also found that China is looking beyond its decades-old territorial dispute with Taiwan as it modernises its military with investments in new Navy ships, advanced fighter planes and so-called anti-access military systems—those aimed at keeping ships and other forces out of an area.
“As China’s interests have grown and as it has gained greater influence in the international system, its military modernisation has also become increasingly focused on investments in military capabilities to conduct a wider range of missions beyond its immediate territorial concerns,” the Pentagon report said.
Last month, two independent reports had said that China continues to remain the main source of hacking attempts and cyber attacks in the world.
Akamai’s State of the Internet report noted that China is the source of 41 percent of all of the cyber attacks in the world in the fourth quarter of 2012 — that’s more than the rest of the top ten combined, while Verizon’s 2013 Data Breach Investigations Report found that 30 percent of the confirmed hacking attempts it tracked originated in China.
