The Chinese government denies any involvement in cyber-attacks, rebuking accusations made linking the government to attacks on Google and 30 other companies.
The Chinese government is
fighting back against accusations it was involved in any way in the recent
cyber-attacks that struck more than 30 enterprises, calling such talk
"groundless."
"Accusation that the
Chinese government participated in cyber-attack, either in an explicit or
inexplicit way, is groundless and aims to denigrate China," a spokesman of the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology told Chinese newspaper
Xinhua Sunday. "We [are] firmly opposed to that."
The interview is part of
an international back-and-forth between China
and the United States. Last week, U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton mentioned China specifically as she denounced
Internet censorship. She stopped short, however, of accusing the Chinese
government of direct
involvement in the attacks on Google and other companies, instead stating,
"Countries or individuals that engage in cyber-attacks should face consequences
and international condemnation."
She also requested China
investigate the Google
attacks and for the investigation and its results to be "transparent."
The controversy was
touched off when Google threatened to pull out of China
Jan. 12 in light of a
cyber-attack in December the company claimed originated from China. Google also said it uncovered
repeated attempts to break into the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights
activists, and pledged to stop censoring search results.
Evidence tying the Chinese
government to the attacks on Google and the other companies-dubbed "Operation
Aurora"-has been the subject of debate. Researchers at McAfee, for
example, have identified systems in Taiwan
and the United States
involved in the attacks. On
the other hand, a cyclic redundancy check in the code for Hydraq, the main
backdoor Trojan used in the attacks, has been linked to China.
However, China
counters that it is the
victim of cyber-attacks as well. According to the Xinhua story, official data
showed more than 1 million Chinese IP addresses were under the control of
"overseas sources," and the number of Websites hit by hackers stood at more
than 42,000 last year.
In her remarks last week, Clinton said
addressing cyber-security issues requires cooperation across international
borders.
"Governments and citizens must have confidence that the networks at the
core of their national security and economic prosperity are safe and resilient.
... Disruptions in these systems demand a coordinated response by all
governments, the private sector and the international community," she
said.
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