Chinese hackers who breached Google gained access to sensitive data, U.S. officials say

Chinese hackers who breached Google’s servers several years ago gained access to a sensitive database with years’ worth of information about U.S. surveillance targets, according to current and former government officials.

The breach appears to have been aimed at unearthing the identities of Chinese intelligence operatives in the United States who may have been under surveillance by American law enforcement agencies.

Chinese hackers caught trying to steal secrets of our new stealth fighter as tens of thousands of cyber attacks are launched on jet manufacturer every week

• Lockheed Martin said it was being targeted by hackers from China
• Company is building new Joint Strike Fighter which is ‘invisible’ on radar
• Team of ‘young geeks’ battling against cyber attacks at British base

Chinese cyber spies have been caught trying to steal the secrets of Britain’s most sophisticated combat jet, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

A covert unit within the Chinese Army has been using highly sophisticated cyber weapons in a desperate attempt to acquire classified information about the stealthy Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

Manufacturer Lockheed Martin claims it is thwarting tens of thousands of computer attacks every week to keep secure secrets about the jet – due to be in service with the Royal Navy and RAF by 2018.

Canadian scientists perplexed why researcher would try to smuggle readily available pathogen to China

Another day, another Chinese theft of intellectual property.

OTTAWA — Scientists familiar with contagions are scratching their heads over the arrest of a former federal government researcher who was allegedly trying to smuggle bacteria into China.

Klaus Nielsen, a former lead researcher with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, faces charges in what police say was a scheme to illegally commercialize a testing device for Brucella bacteria.

China Stealing State Secrets

Benjamin Bishop, a defense contractor with top secret clearance, was arrested on March 15 for passing on state secrets to a 27-year-old Chinese spy. The severe breach in national security shows that beyond losing information via Chinese hackers, more traditional methods of espionage, such as the “honey pot,” are continuing to take their toll.

…

Mr. Bishop was compromised when he met the young woman during a conference on international military defense issues. The name of the woman has not been released, but is referred to as “Person 1.” What is known is that Person 1 was living in Hawaii on a student visa, and was most likely at the military meeting to target people such as Mr. Bishop, who have access to classified information.

Denial-of-service attack takes down JP Morgan Chase sites

The Web sites for banking giant JP Morgan Chase are offline this afternoon as the result of a distributed-denial-of-service attack, a representative told CNET.

The site’s usual banking tools and content were replaced this afternoon with a message that said:

Our website is temporarily down, but our branches and Mobile Apps are available. Please try again later.

Cyber-attackers penetrate Reserve Bank networks

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s computer networks have been repeatedly and successfully hacked in a series of cyber-attacks to infiltrate sensitive internal information, including by ­Chinese-developed malicious software.

The RBA is sufficiently concerned about these risks that it has had a private security firm carry out “penetration testing”, or authorised hacking, of its computer networks to assess the integrity of its digital defences.

Did Navy Make Pearl Harbor Mistake Again?

A photo of five U.S. nuclear aircraft carriers docked in Norfolk, Va., the world’s largest naval station, has gone viral on the Internet amid speculation the ships could be sitting ducks for a Pearl Harbor-type attack or were docked due to sequestration.

…

The photo first appeared in early February amid concerns that having the carriers lined up in one location breached long-standing Navy protocol.

FBI probe of defense tech allegedly leaked from NASA stonewalled, sources say

A four-year FBI investigation into the transfer of classified weapons technology to China and other countries from NASA’s Ames Research Center is being stonewalled by government officials, sources tell FoxNews.com.

Documents obtained by FoxNews.com, which summarize these and other allegations and were given to congressional sources last week by a whistle-blower, described how a “secret grand jury” was to be convened in February 2011 to hear testimony from informants in the case, including a senior NASA engineer. But federal prosecutor Gary Fry was removed from the case, which was then transferred from one office in the Northern District of California to another where, according to the documents, “this case now appears to be stalled.”

“The information is staggering,” the whistle-blower told FoxNews.com.

Chinese hackers have hit every Washington network, intel says

Chinese hackers have hit nearly every Washington institution, according to unnamed intelligence officials.

“The dark secret is there is no such thing as a secure unclassified network,” one said in a Newser report. “Law firms, think tanks, newspapers. If there’s something of interest, you should assume you’ve been penetrated.”

Chinese Army Unit Is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S.

Headquarters building of PLA Unit 61398

On the outskirts of Shanghai, in a run-down neighborhood dominated by a 12-story white office tower, sits a People’s Liberation Army base for China’s growing corps of cyberwarriors.

The building off Datong Road, surrounded by restaurants, massage parlors and a wine importer, is the headquarters of P.L.A. Unit 61398. A growing body of digital forensic evidence — confirmed by American intelligence officials who say they have tapped into the activity of the army unit for years — leaves little doubt that an overwhelming percentage of the attacks on American corporations, organizations and government agencies originate in and around the white tower.

An unusually detailed 60-page study, to be released Tuesday by Mandiant, an American computer security firm, tracks for the first time individual members of the most sophisticated of the Chinese hacking groups — known to many of its victims in the United States as “Comment Crew” or “Shanghai Group” — to the doorstep of the military unit’s headquarters. The firm was not able to place the hackers inside the 12-story building, but makes a case there is no other plausible explanation for why so many attacks come out of one comparatively small area.

Missile Madness

While the US continues down the road of disarmament, it couldn’t be anymore clear what America’s enemies are doing: Preparing for a war. This article serves to implicate who North Korea’s handlers are. As Mr. Fisher put it, the Chinese don’t seem to care about the rules. That’s true, but it’s also more cynical than that. Their proxies are instrumental in keeping the focus off themselves. That’s not to say that North Korea isn’t a threat, because it is, but rather that the enemy behind the enemy must remain concealed until the moment is right.

The United States has developed the illusion that total disarmament is a demonstration of “moral strength.” When the United States is at its weakest, it will be hit with one clenched fist.

China firms sanctioned for missile proliferation

…

Four Chinese missile manufacturers and exporters were slapped with U.S. sanctions for illicit sales related to North Korea, Iran, and Syria, the State Department said in a statement late Monday.

Federal Reserve hacked

US central bank confirms intrusion after hacktivist group Anonymous was claimed to have stolen 4,000 bankers’ details

…

“The Federal Reserve system is aware that information was obtained by exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product,” a spokeswoman for the US central bank said.