A Year's Further Research On an Espionage Network

Mortimer.CA writes "Last year researchers discovered a giant electronic spying operation they dubbed GhostNet. Now, after a further year's worth of research, Infowar Monitor has released a new report. The report (Scribbed PDF) documents a complex ecosystem of cyber espionage that systematically targeted and compromised computer systems in India, the Offices of the Dalai Lama, the United Nations, and several other countries. While the servers are in China, the report's authors say that there is 'no evidence in this report of the involvement of the People's Republic of China or any other government in the shadow network.' Furthermore, the 'intruders even stole documents related to the travel of NATO forces in Afghanistan, illustrating that even though the Indian government was the primary target of the attacks, one gap in computer security can leave many nations exposed.'"

Let me refer all of you to this...

[GPLDAN]

The best bit of journalism in the last year on this subject:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/business/global/02hacker.html?emc=eta1 [nytimes.com]

Now - read the story of Maija the not-so-l33t hacker and pay special attention to how the story explains how the Chinese special intelligence services work. The whole thing is outsourced, loose affiliation. The blackwater-ization of hacking, where for the government is most interested in a plausible denial.

Then tell me again how the Chinese intelligence services aren't funding and running Ghostnet.
The way I see it, these hackers probably get treated as well as Bobby Kotick treats his people. Do thy bidding and get hookers sent over for lunch, maybe two if you find a 0-day.

Tibet is part of China

[wiredog]

and always has been, and don't try to tell the Chinese differently.

Re:Ooooh! The Dalai Lama!

[sopssa]

And yet the article says nothing about the intention being to start a war between China and India. Making things up is indeed fun. As for the CIA supporting the Dalai Lama... heck, in this case I'm all for it.

And it states:

The money allocated for the resistance movement was spent on training volunteers and paying for guerrilla operations against the Chinese, the Tibetan government-in-exile said in a statement.

Just like with Osama bin Laden, Iraq and Middle-East. USA has a long history of supporting guerrilla and when it doesn't fit them anymore, they call them terrorists. I would imagine Dalai Lama and Tibet will be the next such thing.