Chinese hackers infiltrate U.S. Senator's office PCs

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Senator Bill Nelson of Florida confirmed this week that cybercriminals based in China hacked into his Senate office computers.

The news comes in the same week that the U.S. Department of Defense released a report on China's military capabilities that highlighted the growing threat of Chinese cyberwarfare. Nelson first revealed the attacks March 19 at an Armed Services Committee hearing.

Nelson said in a statement that no classified information was stored on the hacked computers, which were wiped clean by the Senate Sergeant at Arms Information Technology Security Branch.

Twice this month and once in February, hackers targeted the work stations of Nelson’s foreign policy aide, his deputy legislative director and "a former Nelson NASA adviser," Nelson’s office said.

The cyberattacks were traced to China through IP information, according to a report in CQ Politics. China has been suspected of involvement in other cyberattacks in recent years, including an incident last August that infected the communications networks of the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain.

The Pentagon's report said China is compensating for its lack of military hardware capabilities through disruptive technologies such as attacking an enemy's computer networks and communication satellites.

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