War in cyberspace

Is the Chinese military hacking into other governments' computer systems to spy on and disrupt them? If you read a slew of revelations in the Western press in the past few days you may think so. It started with an allegation in Der Spiegel that the networks of Germany's foreign and economic ministries were hacked into. When exactly it happened is not very clear, but the revelation was made just before chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to China and was clearly made to embarrass the Chinese and push the spying topic high up the agenda. In the following days news surfaced that also networks at the Pentagon, in Great Britain and in France had been attacked. (The Guardian: “China flexes muscles of its 'informationised' army”)

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said China was opposed to hacking computer networks and would punish the perpetrators. There is not much proof that the attacks originated in China, but it is of course possible that the PLA is conducting cyber warfare experiments.

The hypocritical thing is that the U.S. and other Western countries are also developing cyber warfare capabilities, but the recent accusations make you believe that China is a rogue state, while the U.S. is strictly adhering to international norms. The U.S. that is, which illegally invaded a sovereign country which posed no threat whatsoever. If they invade with an army of flesh and blood, can you believe they would not invade other countries' networks in cyberspace.

It seems, apart from the reported cyber attacks, it is the attacks in the press that were designed to embarrass China. Without any proof, as hackers in other countries could very well be using insecure computers in China to disguise their location.