U.S. to Charge Chinese Workers With Cyberspying

[SecularMotion]

Source: NY Times

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice on Monday will announce charges it has filed against several individuals in China’s People’s Liberation Army, accusing them of stealing trade secrets from American companies and marking the first time the United States has charged state actors with economic espionage, according to law enforcement officials.

Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to announce the charges at 10 a.m. The names of the companies that were hacked are expected to be revealed in documents to be unsealed on Monday.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/20/us/us-to-charge-chinese-workers-with-cyberspying.html?hp&_r=0

[leftyohiolib]

1. whatsa matta you dont like people perusing thru your stuff -- oh the irony

the u.s. who spys on everyone is suing the chinese - you gotta laugh

[Sunlei]

8. He identified the alleged victims as Westinghouse Electric, US Steel, Alcoa Inc, Allegheny Technolog

He identified the alleged victims as Westinghouse Electric, US Steel, Alcoa Inc, Allegheny Technologies, SolarWorld and the US Steelworkers Union.

This cost us that new USA solar panel factory, hundreds of USA jobs and quite a few millions in Federal funds to help that new factory open.

Then China undercut prices by 50% and the factory could never open.

This is not petty email reading, or listen to phone calls/voicemail hacking. Overall this must have cost those large companies billions. Cost hundreds, perhaps thousands of American jobs because the Chinese could make them fail, undercut them, play the investment market.

[lovuian]

13. Outsourcing for cheap labor

has its ramifications

as result it costs a company billions later one

[leftyohiolib]

25. "This is not petty email reading, or listen to phone calls/voicemail hacking" what you descibed

so non-chalantly is a violation of the 4th amendment something potus swore to defend and protect so he help him god and is MORE important than a companies bottom line

[Sunlei]

26. This cost lots & lots of American jobs. Obama always said he put protecting 'the people' first.

[leftyohiolib]

29. his job is to protect and defend the constitution

"This cost lots & lots of American jobs." that's just an assumption

Obama always said he put protecting 'the people' first. this is meaningless political rhetoric plus you dont protect the american people by defiling the bill of rights. really what's he supposed to say " american people youre on your own"...?

[Sunlei]

30. I disagree with your opinions totally.

[leftyohiolib]

31. it's not an opinion it's in the oath all presidents take. here are the words

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

[Leme]

2. CBS morning news just did a story about this

Reporter ended story by saying , "we do it too".

[okaawhatever]

15. No we don't. nt

[dotymed]

3. OH MY GOD...

Does the NSA fear any repercussions??

WOW

[awoke_in_2003]

12. Just another way

for China to unfairly steal American jobs. Why should they pay for research when they can just steal it?

[dotymed]

22. Sadly, that is what American corporations do also.

They steal (legally) the R&D done by Universities, paid for by "our government" grants.
Of course they do not pay taxes so it IS total theft. Of course then they have to employ people in China (usually) because they earn slave wages so the corporations can make unprecedented profits....and so it goes..

[Orrex]

4. Tough day for Chinese workers

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014806934

[LittleBlue]

5. We're charging them with spying???

Ahahahahahaha

[yurbud]

6. so we're back to the Wen Ho Lee propaganda shit?

[blue neen]

17. These Chinese military men also hacked into the e-mails of Pittsburgh area union leaders...

Specifically, the United Steel Workers.

[dipsydoodle]

19. Why steal from steel ?

It's no coincidence that four of the six groups named in the prosecution are in the metal industry, business figures say.

"Trade enforcement is always mainly a steel story - it's the only big American manufacturer that uses the trade law system effectively," says Alan Tonelson of the US Business and Industry Educational Foundation.

He says the indictments are symbolic - and may also be an attempt to mollify a US steel industry at odds with the Obama administration over proposed international trade deals. Talks for the TTIP pact between the US and EU resumed on Monday.

"Clearly we're not going to have US Justice Department officials marching into the PLA's [People's Liberation Army's] headquarters to arrest the indicted personnel," he says.

Michael Wessel, the commissioner of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said the case "sends a message that the US is going to actively protect its own interests and make sure that China plays by the rules."

See : Kim Gittleson BBC business reporter, New York - sub section on this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-27477601

[blue neen]

20. Other industries, too, and the Service Workers Intl. Union.

"Six American companies, including United States Steel , Alcoa, Allegheny Technologies, Westinghouse Electric, SolarWorld, United Steel Workers Union were victims of Chinese hacking attacks, U.S. officials said. Also targeted were Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied-Industrial and Service Workers International Union."

"Underscoring that this was "a real threat to our economy and security," Holder said the Chinese hackers stole information that provides China's competitors with insight into the "strategy and vulnerabilities" of American companies in key industries."

"The alleged hacking appears to have been conducted for no reason other than to advantage state-owned companies and other interests in China, at the expense of businesses here in the United States," said Holder."

http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-report-us-set-to-accuse-chinese-officials-of-cyber-spying/1917504.html

[Sunlei]

28. wonder if Union information was paid for or shared with Chinas biggest USA conservative investors.

America has some very large American investors in China who loved to send American jobs over there.

And love to Union bust America back to the pre-union days.

[Sunlei]

7. These are major charges, finally this shows how china wrecked our solar industry and other major.

Once we have those names we can all see who the heck other major investors were behind China.

[dipsydoodle]

9. US justice department charges Chinese with hacking

The US has charged five Chinese army officers with hacking into private-sector American companies in a bid for competitive advantage, in the first cyber-espionage case of its kind.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the alleged breaches were "significant" and demanded "an aggressive response".

US prosecutors say the officers stole trade secrets and internal documents from five companies and a labour union.

China denied the charges and warned the case would harm US-China relations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-27475324

Spokesman for China said "and ?"

[dipsydoodle]

16. China's comments from February 2013.

A Ridiculous and Laughable “Hacking” Allegation

A few days ago, American cyber security firm Mandiant made public a report alleging that “the Chinese military was behind hacker attacks” against US websites. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry have repudiated the allegation as “groundless”. Such slanderous allegations repeatedly churned out by certain US firms and media are not only annoying but also laughable.

First, the allegation is laughable because it is technologically senseless. It is only too naïve to reach the conclusion that “the attacks originated from China” only by identifying the IP addresses. Anyone with a little cyber knowledge wouldn’t believe that a professional hacker would be so foolish as to use his/her own computer for hacking. No hacker would register his/her IP address at the place where they operate. And few would launch a massive attack to expose his or her “hideout”. They usually hijack a third-party computer and turn it into a “zombie” as part of a “botnet”, on which they then launch the planned attack. In its report, Mandiant claimed that a Shanghai-based army unit was the Chinese military’s “hacking headquarters”. The only reason it cited to support this claim was that the army unit used the term “headquarters” when registering for online address. This is ridiculous. Even an American cyber expert shrugged it off as pure “conjecture”.

Second, the allegation is laughable because it is nothing new but a hackneyed trick. Two years ago, some American cyber activists labeled a Lanxiang Technical School in Shandong Province as China’s “base camp of hackers” backed by the military and identified a company in Hengshui, Hebei Province and a college in Zhengzhou, Henan Province as “cyber militia units”. The assertions later turned out to be groundless. Now they played the old trick again. Analysts said, while the American cyber firms may have whipped up the fanfare for advertisement, the US government and military joined in only to scrounge more funding off the Congress to arm its cyber troops.

Thirdly, the allegation represents a peremptory attitude. The United States is the “rules maker” with an unchallengeable position in the cyber world. The US military set up the Cyber Warfare Command in 2010 and planned to enlarge the recruits for its cyber security force to 4,900. On the contrary, China sits at the lower end of the Internet chain and has been one of the worst-inflicted victims of cyber attacks. Available statistics indicate that 73,000 overseas IP addresses, working as Trojan and botnet controller servers, were involved in controlling 14 million computers in China last year. Another 32,000 overseas IP addresses exercised remote control over 38,000 Chinese websites by way of planting backdoors. Of these attacks, those from the US cyber sites were the largest in number. While China has suffered most from cyber attacks, the US proved to be the attacking side. Instead of restraining itself, the US threw the mud at China. This is really unfair and ungentlemanly.

Fourth.........................

http://www.chinausfocus.com/peace-security/a-ridiculous-and-laughable-hacking-allegation/

Current :

China blasts 'absurd' U.S. charges of cyber-espionage.

Chinese government officials on Monday strongly rebuked the U.S. over its claims of cyber-spying by five Chinese military officers, saying the Justice Department indictment was based on “fabricated facts” and would jeopardize U.S.-China relations.

“The Chinese government, the Chinese military and their relevant personnel have never engaged or participated in cyber theft of trade secrets,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Qin Gang said in a statement. “The U.S. accusation against Chinese personnel is purely ungrounded and absurd.”

The Chinese government demanded that the U.S. indictment, unsealed Monday, be withdrawn. Chinese officials also said they would suspend activities of the China-U.S. Cyber Working Group, created last year to address allegations of hacking.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-china-cyber-spying-20140519-story.html

What is being regarded as unusual is China's speed of response in this instance - usually take a day or so.

[okaawhatever]

10. I just have to say, anyone who defends China in this sickens me. It does not matter that we spy

militarily, China spies militarily too. China does everything we do, including collecting phone and internet information. We're amateurs compare to China. In fact, China hacked into both McCain and Obama's campaign computers. That is just a tiny fraction of what they have done. I saw a report about a year ago that said Chinese hacking cost $685 Billion per year to the US. In most countries the gov't does the military spying and the businesses try to do corporate espionage. In China, they have the military spying on companies that have nothing to do with defense and give that info to their businesses. China would never have taken so many American jobs without their theft.
It just sickens me to my core that people could say what I've read in the comments.

[onehandle]

14. Some here have no clue that China is our biggest enemy.

Their children and grandchildren should start learning Chinese now.

[GeorgeGist]

21. OK ...

Whatever.

[Nihil]

23. Laughing at the hypocrisy is not "defending China".

> spying on companies that have nothing to do with defense and give that info to their businesses.

My, my ... how the indignation doth flutter one's sense of exceptionalism ...

[bemildred]

24. Our security arrangements are infantile.

Being morally correct just makes you that much tastier.

[awoke_in_2003]

11. At one of our flight training centers...

students from China were caught in one of our computer rooms stealing simulation software.

[Sunlei]

27. They have been stealing games, music and movies from the stone age of the internet.

For about 7-8 years the only people writing major game hacks and selling game 'play money' were Koreans and Chinese.

They even had computer filled, game ' gold-mining' sweatshops set-up with the sole purpose of exploiting USA online games.

[hughee99]

18. When spying starts to affect corporate profits, you know the government will do something

about it.