While we have
known for years about China’s cyber espionage efforts aimed at our military and
high-tech programs, the breadth of the list underscored how routine the attacks
have become. And, as the U.S. looks to grow its military presence in the Asia
Pacific, it heightens worries that China can use the information to blunt
America’s military superiority and keep pace with emerging technologies.
A partial list of 37 breached programs included
the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense weapon — a land-based missile defense
system that was recently deployed to Guam to help counter the North Korean
threat. Other programs include the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 Raptor
fighter jet, and the hybrid MV-22 Osprey, which can take off and land like a
helicopter and fly like an airplane.
The report also
listed another 29 broader defense technologies that have been compromised,
including drone video systems and high-tech avionics. The details of the
breaches were first reported by The Washington Post.
According to a
defense official, the report is based on more than 50 briefings that members of
the board’s task force received from senior leaders in the Pentagon, the State
Department, the intelligence community, national laboratories and business. The
official was not authorized to discuss the report publicly so spoke on
condition of anonymity.
U.S. officials
have been far more open about discussing the China cyber attacks over the past
year or two, beginning with a November 2011 report by U.S. intelligence
agencies that accused China of systematically stealing American high-tech data
for its own national economic gain. The Pentagon, meanwhile, in its latest
report on China’s military power, asserted publicly for the first time that
Beijing’s military was likely behind computer-based attacks targeting federal
agencies.
“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,” said the report,
which was released earlier this month.
In Beijing on
Wednesday, Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang did not directly address
the allegations, but said that China opposes all hacking and referred to an
agreement with the U.S. to form a cybercrime working group.
Cybersecurity
experts have for some time been urging the U.S. government to use sanctions or
other punishments against China for the breaches.
The benefits to
the cyber espionage are high and the costs are low, said Shawn Henry, former
cyber director at the FBI and now president of CrowdStrike Services, a security
technology company.
“There is no
cost, there are no sanctions, no diplomatic actions, no financial
disincentives,” said Henry, adding that the U.S. intellectual property losses
are in the hundreds of millions of dollars. He said that the U.S. needs to have
a discussion with Chinese leaders about “what the red lines are and what the
repercussions will be for crossing those red lines.”
U.S. leaders,
including President Barack Obama, however, have instead been using the bully
pulpit to increase pressure on the Chinese to confront the problem. Obama is
expected to raise the issue with China’s new leader Xi Jinping during a summit
in Southern California.
Defense
contractors, meanwhile, declined to say whether their systems had been
breached. But recent filings to shareholders indicate these companies see
intrusions as a serious risk to their business, particularly when they must
rely on third-party suppliers.
It’s way past time for the United States, and our allies, to
get tough with the Chinese on these cyber attacks. Red lines must be clearly
laid out and serious consequences must be put I place. This problem is not
going away and it represents an even bigger threat to our national security than
the war on terrorism.
No comments:
Post a Comment