Ghostnet nothing to do with us, say Chinese
CHINA'S STATE NEWS AGENCY Xinhua is running denials that the discovery of huge Internet snooping ring has anything to do with anyone in the People's Republic.
"This is purely another political issue that the West is trying to exaggerate," military analyst Song Xiaojun told the agency, according to CNN.
Two universities reported finding evidence of what they are calling a cyber-espionage network, dubbed GhostNet by the University of Toronto. Targets of the snoops include embassies, governmental foreign ministries and the Dalai Lama's PC.
"GhostNet is capable of taking full control of infected computers, including searching and downloading specific files, and covertly operating attached devices, including microphones and web cameras," the report says.
The researchers found the network involved over 1,295 compromised computers from the ministries of foreign affairs of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and Bhutan. They also discovered hacked systems in the embassies of India, South Korea, Indonesia, Romania, Cyprus, Malta, Thailand, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan.
Once the hackers had got inside the systems, they gained control using malware and then turned them into a big spying network.
The findings by the University of Toronto were subsequently backed up by a separate report from the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory.
The investigations began after staff at the office of the Dalai Lama emailed a foreign official suggesting a meeting. Before long the Chinese government was on the phone suggesting such a meeting was a bad idea.
The network has been traced to servers in China, although the researchers warned about jumping to conclusions. Brits, Yanks and Israelis could also be up to no good they warned. µ
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...what kind of world do we live in when we can't trust the word of the Chinese government.
I find it more frightening that the INQ bases it's information on Songs.
Make no mistake..the chinese government is akin to 2112.
They know exactly what is happening in their country and control everything.
- they down plane a gut it, they've annexed the south china sea's up to 200 miles (law says 12 max), they're blinding western satelites, Submarine popping up in US pacific fleet.. and on and on and on....
They are at war with the west, and the west just want's to make money and ignore their overt and covert actions...
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