Posted on 06/11/2008 9:30:29 PM PDT by BloodOrFreedom
WASHINGTON - A New Jersey congressman says he is one of at least three lawmakers whose computers have been hacked from China, apparently in search of information about political dissidents and human rights legislation.
Rep. Christopher Smith (R-4th Dist.) said today that in December 2006 and again in March 2007 his human rights subcommittee's computers were attacked by a virus that security officials told him were "intended to take control of the computers."
"At that time IT professionals cleaned the computers and informed my staff that the attack seemed to come from the People's Republic of China," said Smith during debate on a House resolution urging stepped-up efforts to protect Congress from cyber attacks.
"They said that it came from or through a Chinese IP address," said Smith. "The attackers hacked into files related to China. These contained legislative proposals...and the names of Chinese dissidents."
Smith said he has no absolute proof that the Beijing government was behind the attacks, but said it raises serious concerns. He said he informed House security officials and raised the alarm internally, but at the time did not feel compelled to make the information public.
Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Stephen Kirk (R-Ill.) also said today their computers were hacked, and both also believe the attacks were from China.
Wolfe, like Smith an outspoken critic of China's human rights record and abortion policies, said the hacking of his Capitol Hill office computers began in August 2006. He said a computer at a House committee office also was hacked, with the intruders obtaining casework regarding political dissidents around the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om1zP6EGkWM
Bet it twernt a Mac
It is most troubling that the names of dissidents and other important info was on these computers. Its almost enough to make one wonder about the advisability of keeping sensitive government info on a computer.
There’s a heck of a lot of malice coming from China right now. It’s not necessarily political. Much of it is commercial.
A lot of the Chinese hack attempts are exploiting SQL’s weak security using SQL insertions. There are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of servers at risk and all the firewalls in the world won’t do any good.
If several Republican servers have been hacked, I’m willing to bet that Democrat servers have also been hacked. The Dems just haven’t figured it out.
I keep all of my sensitive documents in their paper forms, hidden and locked up
And we keep kissing their butts.
I'm sure this had a little to do with it. Besides, I'm not holding my breath that many Dems are outspoken critics of human rights and abortion, in China or elsewhere, unless it's the absence of abortion that they perceive as a violation of human rights. And, it would seem that too many of our Dems view China's social policies as something worthy of implementation here. Collaborate? Maybe, maybe not.
No, they probably don't mind.
Didn’t mean to call you out on that. Just mentioning my personal preference.
It is also enough to make you wonder about the validity of the story...while I hold confidence that our government would be smart enough to not store such sensitive information on a connected computer I am suddenly reminded of the fact that we continue to allow foreign “exchange students” to work in our nuclear labs and check out top secret launch codes like they were borrowing a library book.
I really do think someone did probably hack into the computers, but the BIG question is WHO would have done it.
I know China is certainly capable, but is it possible for someone here to hack the computers and make it seem as if the intrusion came from China?
WOW! What is the point? Just to prove they can do it? Perhaps we should return the favor?
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