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Report: Chinese military developing cyberwarfare tools


A Chinese military television program has hinted at cyberwarfare against China's "enemies," as it included footage of what appears to be software meant to target specific IP addresses, a news site reported. The Epoch Times article by Matthew Robertson and Helena Zhu called the video footage, where the software asked the user to "Select Attack Target" a "slip-up." It said the standard Chinese military propaganda screened in mid-July showed shots from a computer screen showing a Chinese military university engaged in cyberwarfare against entities in the United States. “The CCP has leaked its top secret here," says Jason Ma, a commentator for New Tang Dynasty Television. “This is the first time we see clearly that one of the top Chinese military universities is doing this research and developing software for cyber-attacks. There’s solid proof of it in this video," he said. While the Chinese Communist Party has denied that it is involved in cyber-attacks, experts have suspected that the Chinese military engages in them. “Now we’ve got proof. They’re also extending their persecution of Falun Gong overseas, attacking a civil website in the U.S. These are the clear messages revealed in these six seconds of video," Ma said. Also, the Epoch Times said the documentary is available on China's CCTV website. The screenshots for six seconds, between 11:04 and 11:10, showing "custom-built Chinese software apparently launching a cyber-attack against the main website of the Falun Gong spiritual practice." According to the article, the attack used a compromised IP address belonging to a United States university. People's Liberation Army The Epoch Times report said the screenshots showed the name of the software and the Chinese university that created it - the Electrical Engineering University of China’s People’s Liberation Army. It said this was direct evidence that the PLA is involved in coding cyber-attack software directed against a Chinese dissident group. In the video, the software window said “Choose Attack Target," after which the computer operator selects an IP address from a list. "Encoded in the software are the words 'Falun Gong website list,' showing that attacking Falun Gong websites was built into the software," it said. A list of dozens of Falun Gong websites appears. The computer operator chooses Minghui.org, the main website of the Falun Gong spiritual practice. Compromised US IP address The Epoch Times report said the IP address 138.26.72.17 belongs to the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB), according to an online trace. Network administrators at UAB contacted on Friday took a look at the IP address on their network and said it had not been used since 2010. One of the technicians also recalled that there had been a Falun Gong practitioner at the university some years ago who held informal Falun Gong meetings on campus. They could not confirm whether that individual used that IP address, Epoch Times said. But a UAB network administrator said they have safeguards against both network intrusions, and that their network is not compromised. McAfee report Epoch Times cited a report by network security firm McAfee involving an unprecedented campaign of cyber-espionage, affecting over 70 organizations or governments around the world and implicating billions of dollars in intellectual property. It said the McAfee report hinted the attack was being carried out by a “state actor." "Later evidence traced IP addresses involved in the attack to China, and a growing mountain of other circumstantial evidence also suggests that the attacks originated from China," the Epoch Times report said. — TJD, GMA News

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