from the subtext:-or-else dept.
For the first time, the United States has mentioned the People’s Republic of China in relation to cyber crime, officially acknowledging what has been long suspected by private security experts and the U.S. business community. The Obama Administration seeks to get the Chinese government to acknowledge the problem, to cease any state-sponsored hacker activity, and to start a dialogue on normative behavior on the internet. This announcement follows the recent 60-page report from the American cybersecurity firm Mandiant, who spent two years compiling evidence against the so-called ‘Comment Crew.’ They traced IP addresses, common behavior, and tools to track the group’s activity, which led to a Shanghai neighborhood home to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA’s) Unit 61398. This tracking came at the behest of the Times, who has experienced some trouble with hacking in the past. The Chinese government rejected the report as ‘unprofessional’ and ‘lacking technical evidence.’ This announcement also comes amid a delicate leadership transition in China and numerous new reports on the vulnerability of U.S. business and government networks to attack.
