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Chinese Hackers Snatch Confidential Documents and Dalai Lama's E-mails

by Caleb Johnson on April 6, 2010 at 04:05 PM

In what will only increase tensions between China and the rest of the world, a new report from researchers at the University of Toronto claims a 'Shadow Network' in the Asian nation was responsible for a series of high-level hacks against India's government. According to The New York Times, researchers watched for more than eight months as Chinese hackers stole classified documents regarding India's security and relationships with other countries, as well as about 1,500 e-mails from the Dalai Lama's office. Indian officials were notified of the attacks in late March, and have since been working to shore up the system and dispose of the documents -- all of which were labeled with words like 'Secret,' 'Restricted' and 'Confidential.' However, the damage might have already been done, since a few weeks in the data world is an eternity. What's worse, the report claims computers were compromised on every continent except Antarctica and Australia.

The Associated Press reports that the core servers used in this attack were located in Chengdu, a small town in southwestern China. Considering that's near the Indian border, this claim makes sense. However, researchers told the Times that the sophistication of the hacks, combined with the high-level targets, makes them wonder if the Chinese government might have been involved. Of course, this is the last thing Chinese officials want to hear after dealing with the fallout from the infamous Google attacks earlier this year.

Nobody should cast stones just yet, but if the claims in this report are true, it's high time that China is held accountable for its -- let's call it -- lax stance on hackers. After all, with networks spanning the globe and keeping us connected, an attack in Asia can surely ripple across the pond. [From: The New York Times and AP/Huffington Post]

Tags: attack, china, dalai lama, DalaiLama, documents, GoogleVsChina, hack, india, research, top

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