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German IT officials prohibited Chinese hackers stealing 160 gigabytes of data in what has been called the single ‘biggest digital defence ever mounted by the German state.’ But speaking to Der Spiegel, experts said the cyber defensive only came after it emerged that computers located in China had successfully hacked into four German ministries. Although the nature of the transferred data is under wraps, and claims the attack was steered by the state denied by Chinese authorities, the magazine believes the hack started in May. Quoting top officials from Germany’s domestic intelligence service, Der Spiegel reported that the majority of alleged economic espionage attacks via computers now originate in China. In the latest attack, ‘Trojan’ espionage programs were apparently buried in common MS files and were able to infect a “large number” of host computers when they were opened. The IT systems infected are in the Foreign, Economics and Research ministries, and Angela Merkel’s Chancellery, The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution reportedly said. The Federal Office, the equivalent to the UK’s Special Branch, told Der Spiegel that information was stolen from Germany’s state computers via the Trojan on a daily basis. However security officials managed to intercept the theft of a further 160 gigabytes of data which were in the process of being siphoned off German state computers. Yesterday, anonymous commentators speaking to The Times described Berlin’s response as the “biggest digital defence ever mounted by the German state.” “But no one knows how much has leaked out,” a Berlin official cautioned, in addition to others reportedly accusing the People’s Liberation Army of masterminding the attack. Such accusations were met with vehement denials, with a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Berlin describing them as “irresponsible speculation without a scrap of evidence.” And while both German and Chinese premiers have kept tight-lipped about the Trojan attack, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told reporters that measures would be taken to “rule out hacking attacks.” The promise, which was made in front of Angela Merkel on her visit to Beijing, may reassure German businesses and universities, both of which have new reasons to doubt the motives of their Chinese colleagues. Aug 28, 2007 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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