China's Cyberwarfare

Source: http://goo.gl/o820J

China denies the claims by Mandiant (US security company) that their military unit in Shanghai had any involvement in the recent hacking that faced many US companies. The spokesman for the military of national defense in China said, "Chinese military forces have never supported any hacking activities. The claim by the Mandiant company that the Chinese military engages in Internet espionage has no foundation in fact." They also stated that due to the anonymity and international nature that is inherent to these attacks it is hard to track these attacks. Though the Mandiant responded by releasing a long report that contained their evidence that these hacks were affiliated with the Military and that included Internet protocol addresses and even the identities of several Chinese individuals it thinks were behind some of the attacks.  In addition Mandiant said that they monitored hackers through social networks and e-mails. In the end the issue and its details are still very cloudy and there is no confirmed answer on where these hacks originated from.

I feel that in the rise of news in part few years about the internet giving rise to hack-tivism as a new way to protest, people have seen to forgotten the scary threat that hacking can bring, and this news is a real wake up call for the general public. The real threat that I see is the fact that if they are smart enough, hackers can essentially be criminals that can get off without any repercussions. However that is not the main point of this article I wish to highlight. The crux of this article is really the fact that both of these two governments are hiding their information leaving not only the public clueless as far as threats that directly affect them, but the governments themselves. The fact is that this incidents shows that there are times when we can't be sure on who to trust, and when the consequences are even higher than they are here we could essentially be free of any safety. And if that fact doesn't scare you, there is something really wrong.