Washington confirms Chinese hack attack on White House computer

[WillowTree]

White House sources partly confirmed an alarming report that U.S. government computers -- reportedly including systems used by the military for nuclear commands -- were breached by Chinese hackers.

“This was a spear phishing attack against an unclassified network,” a White House official told FoxNews.com. “These types of attacks are not infrequent and we have mitigation measures in place.”

A law enforcement official who works with members of the White House Military Office confirmed the Chinese attack to FoxNews.com on Monday, but it remains unclear what information, if any, was taken or left behind.

"This [White House Communications Agency] guy opened an email he wasn't supposed to open," the source said.


Read more: Washington confirms Chinese hack attack on White House computer | Fox News







wow

 

[PoliticalChic]

White House sources partly confirmed an alarming report that U.S. government computers -- reportedly including systems used by the military for nuclear commands -- were breached by Chinese hackers.

“This was a spear phishing attack against an unclassified network,” a White House official told FoxNews.com. “These types of attacks are not infrequent and we have mitigation measures in place.”

A law enforcement official who works with members of the White House Military Office confirmed the Chinese attack to FoxNews.com on Monday, but it remains unclear what information, if any, was taken or left behind.

"This [White House Communications Agency] guy opened an email he wasn't supposed to open," the source said.


Read more: Washington confirms Chinese hack attack on White House computer | Fox News







wow

Wow is right....

Recall Wen Ho Lee?

Los Alamos Scientist Lee Pleads Not Guilty / He is charged with copying weapons data, will be jailed until trial
New York Times
Published 4:00 a.m., Tuesday, December 14, 1999


1999-12-14 04:00:00 PDT Albuquerque, N.M. -- A former U.S. weapons scientist pleaded not guilty yesterday to the illegal computer downloading of a vast trove of nuclear arms data, but a federal magistrate ordered him jailed pending trial, declaring that the acts he is accused of represent "a clear and present danger to the security of the United States."



Read more: Los Alamos Scientist Lee Pleads Not Guilty / He is charged with copying weapons data, will be jailed until trial - SFGate


What the heck will it take for this nation to wake up??


Don't say it.

 

[Avatar4321]

So China regularly tries to hack into the White House... It doesnt make me feel better at all to learn this is a fequent occurence.

 

[Clementine]

Gee, the WH is sure on top of things. They know their computer was hacked into, but have no idea what information was taken or left behind. Doesn't this make you feel better about national security?

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

I'm sure an apology is forthcoming it just remains to be seen from which side it will come.

 

[Katzndogz]

Was it hacking or did obama just leak the pass codes like he did with the drone.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Why are our nuclear weapons considered unclassified?

Anyone find this a little fishy?

 

[ScreamingEagle]

i wonder if we'll ever hear from Senator Dianne Feinstein again.......

 

[Avatar4321]

I'm sure an apology is forthcoming it just remains to be seen from which side it will come.

What a silly statement. If there is an apology, the White house (or rather tha American Embassy in China will in order to give the White House "plausible deniability) will be the ones apologizing to China for not making our websites more accessible.

 

[occupied]

You guys will cheer anything that even remotely makes the president look bad, Chinese cyber espionage is a serious matter where it seems we will never have the upper hand. They have penetrated every public, private and government network in the world out of sheer numerical superiority.

 

[PoliticalChic]

You guys will cheer anything that even remotely makes the president look bad, Chinese cyber espionage is a serious matter where it seems we will never have the upper hand. They have penetrated every public, private and government network in the world out of sheer numerical superiority.

"You guys will cheer anything that even remotely makes the president look bad,"

Did you actually say that???

With that avi???

 

[RoadVirus]

Why are the chinese hacking our military computers? Don't they know Obama will gladly give them any defense secrets if they just ask nicely?

 

[RDD_1210]

I was wondering how many posts it would take until this became "an example of Obama doing it wrong". This thread certainly didn't disappoint.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Would it be so wrong to backtrack the hackers ID and fire a cruise missile at him?

 

[hazlnut]

White House sources partly confirmed an alarming report that U.S. government computers -- reportedly including systems used by the military for nuclear commands -- were breached by Chinese hackers.

“This was a spear phishing attack against an unclassified network,” a White House official told FoxNews.com. “These types of attacks are not infrequent and we have mitigation measures in place.”

A law enforcement official who works with members of the White House Military Office confirmed the Chinese attack to FoxNews.com on Monday, but it remains unclear what information, if any, was taken or left behind.

"This [White House Communications Agency] guy opened an email he wasn't supposed to open," the source said.


Read more: Washington confirms Chinese hack attack on White House computer | Fox News







wow

This is what happens when you use PCs.

 

[waltky]

Russians caught tryin' to steal our top secret technology...

Eight held in US over 'Russian hi-tech smuggling plot'
4 October 2012 - Boxes of files were removed from Mr Fishenko's company in Houston

Eight people have been arrested in Houston, Texas, on charges of illegally exporting hi-tech components to Russian security bodies. Alexander Fishenko, who owns companies in Texas and Moscow, was charged with operating in the US as an unregistered agent of the Russian government. The indictment names 11 suspects, all of whom are due in court in Houston except for three who are in Russia. There was no immediate comment on the charges from those detained. However, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman, Sergei Ryabkov, quoted US officials as saying the charges were "of a criminal nature".

They bore "no relation whatsoever to any intelligence-gathering activities", he told Russia's Ria-Novosti news agency. Mr Fishenko, 46, a naturalised US citizen and owner of Houston-based company Arc Electronics Inc, was also charged with laundering money. The US keeps strict controls on the export of cutting-edge microelectronics, which could be used in radar and surveillance systems, weapons guidance systems and detonation triggers. A Houston FBI statement names six men and five women as suspects, ranging in age from 31 to 58. Under US sentencing guidelines, Mr Fishenko faces more than 12 years in prison if convicted on all of the charges.

'Bad chips'

Federal prosecutors, who laid their charges in a court in Brooklyn, New York, said Mr Fishenko and his co-accused had "engaged in a surreptitious and systematic conspiracy" since October 2008 to obtain the technology from US manufacturers and export it to Russia. The Associated Press news agency describes Mr Fishenko as an "American success story... an immigrant from Kazakhstan who made millions off his Texas export firm". According to court papers, he graduated from a technical institute in the Russian city of St Petersburg before going to America in 1994. He holds US and Russian passports and has frequently travelled overseas to do business, making tens of millions of dollars on exports, US officials say.

On its website, Arc Electronics describes itself as a "full-service electronics supplier, serving a diverse group of customers, including original equipment manufacturers of medical instruments, oil and gas equipment, and commercial products". Arc's accounting records show a "striking similarity between fluctuations in Arc's gross revenues and the Russian Federation's defence spending over the last several years", the court papers record. Investigators say they also recovered a letter to Arc from a Russian domestic intelligence agency lab complaining that micro chips supplied by the company were defective. Intercepted phone calls and emails also "constitute devastating evidence of Fishenko's illegal procurement for the Russian government".

'Military client'

See also:

Russian ring busted for alleged U.S. military export scheme
October 3rd, 2012 - The United States has charged 11 people with illegally exporting U.S. microelectronics to Russia for use by the military and intelligence agencies.

Seven suspects were arrested Wednesday in the Houston area, including Alexander Fishenko, a naturalized American citizen born in Russia. He also is accused of acting on behalf of the Russian government without registering as a foreign agent. Another suspect, Alexander Posobilov, also a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested Tuesday night at George Bush International Airport in Houston. Authorities say he was headed to Singapore and Moscow. Three other people allegedly involved in the procurement ring are believed to be at large in Russia.

Fishenko allegedly used his Houston-based business Arc Electronics Inc. to export items that are supposed to be under strict government control because of their potential military use in radar and surveillance systems, weapons guidance systems and detonation triggers. Prosecutors say Fishenko also is a part owner of Moscow-based Apex System LLC, which is a certified supplier of military equipment to the Russians. Both Arc and Apex are charged with illegal activity along with the 11 individuals in an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Prosecutors allege Fishenko and the other defendants hid the fact they were exporters and pretended Arc Electronics produced mundane items such as traffic lights. According to court documents, the participants in the alleged scheme told other Russian procurement companies to hide the materials they were receiving from Arc. Fishenko allegedly told one company, "Make it up pretty, correctly and make sure it looks good."

Posobilov allegedly told a business to alter a certificate about the end use of a shipment to indicate the materials were for "fishing boats, and not fishing/anti-submarine ones." Prosecutors say Arc has exported approximately $50 million worth of microelectronics and other technology to Russia since 2002. It is not clear how much of that was illegal, but court documents said the illegal activity began in late 2008. The eight suspects arrested in the Houston area were scheduled to have court appearances Wednesday.

Source

 

[OODA_Loop]

Looked like they stole Obama's debate prep materials.

 

[waltky]

Chinese tryin' to sneak in an' steal our most important top secrets...

Congressional report: U.S. should 'view with suspicion' two Chinese companies
October 8th, 2012 - The United States faces a potential security threat from two Chinese telecommunication companies operating inside the United States, according to a congressional report to be released Monday.

CNN obtained a draft report of the nearly year-long probe by the House Intelligence Committee into the business practices of Huawei and ZTE telecommunications firms. The report concluded, "the United States should view with suspicion the continued threat of the U.S. telecommunications market" by the Chinese companies. Huawei is a nearly $30 billion Chinese company employing 120,000 people worldwide with approximately 1,500 in the United States. It is one of the top three providers of telecommunications equipment and information communications technology in the world. ZTE is a similar but smaller firm.

When Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, announced the probe last November, he said he feared the phones Americans use and other communications systems the United States depends on could be a Trojan horse giving the Chinese government access to the United States critical infrastructure so it can carry out economic and military espionage. He referred to China's "voracious appetite" for stealing commercial intellectual property.

The report faults Huawei and ZTE for failing to satisfactorily cooperate with the committee's investigation and provide details about the company's operations and connections to the Chinese government. "Neither company was willing to provide sufficient evidence to ameliorate the Committee's concerns. Neither company was forthcoming with detailed information about its formal relationships or regulatory interaction with Chinese authorities. Neither company provided specific details about the precise role of each company's Chinese Communist Party Committee. Furthermore, neither company provided detailed information about its operations in the United States," the report stated.

Huawei took the brunt of the criticism in the report, a company Rogers previously referred to as "the 800-pound gorilla in the room." In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday night, Rogers warned American companies to think twice about doing business with Huawei. "I would find another vendor if you care about your intellectual property, if you care about your consumer's privacy and you care about the national security of the United States of American," Rogers said on the program.

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