Chinese steal plans for Australian Spy base.

StingrayOZ

Super Moderator
Staff member
China blamed after ASIO blueprints stolen in major cyber attack on Canberra HQ - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Hacking: Chinese spies steal ASIO blueprints | Information, Gadgets, Mobile Phones News & Reviews | News.com.au
Four Corners said the attack came from a server in China, which appears to be the main suspect behind the operation.

Four Corners also found the departments of Defence, Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Foreign Affairs and Trade had all been breached in sustained hacking operations.
The Reserve Bank and the Bureau of Statistics both confirmed recently that they had been the targets of hacking attacks, which they said were unsuccessful
"A factor of of ten times the entire database, or the entire amount of information stored within the Defence Restricted Network, has been leached out over a number of years," one worker said.
Seems like there is a very complex and detail operation going at the moment seeking information on Australia (at least). I would have thought for ASIO's new building there would have been considerable secrecy..

Curious at this comment
"The other, which the Americans had to do with their new embassy in Washington ... was to rip the whole insides out and to start again."
The US has an embassy in Washington?
 

Abraham Gubler

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
The US has an embassy in Washington?
Idiot sub-editor strikes again. A possible reference to the USA's then new embassy in Moscow that had to be rebuilt in the 70s or 80s because all of the walls were found to be riddled with KGB bugs.

Somehow a little different to having a copy of the blueprints. What are they going to do with them? Make a first person shooter map?
 

the road runner

Active Member
Four Corners Strikes again!

One thing i found funny about the 4 Corners program was how they said
"China can not beat the west in a shooting war as the technology held by western countries is to advanced" so "the only way to beat the west is threw cyber warfare"

4 corners did a program a few weeks ago about JSF being a dud ,yet this weeks 4 corners states our technology is to advanced.. hmmm ;)
 

StingrayOZ

Super Moderator
Staff member
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4
Idiot sub-editor strikes again. A possible reference to the USA's then new embassy in Moscow that had to be rebuilt in the 70s or 80s because all of the walls were found to be riddled with KGB bugs.
Well its a little different to when Australia got busted laying fiberoptic cables for bugs in the chinese embassy back in the 80's. Which is why China got special building rights for its new embassy.

China employs exempt labour at embassy
 

Todjaeger

Potstirrer
Idiot sub-editor strikes again. A possible reference to the USA's then new embassy in Moscow that had to be rebuilt in the 70s or 80s because all of the walls were found to be riddled with KGB bugs.

Somehow a little different to having a copy of the blueprints. What are they going to do with them? Make a first person shooter map?
Depending on the level of detail, the blue prints could be used to extrapolate the locations for comm system, server farms, data storage etc. Potentially even giving ideas for numbers and types of specific systems.

The other potentially worrisome thing is that with the blueprints, it might be easier to have either an outside system monitoring part of the ASIO HQ, and/or have bugs planted in crucial areas.

-Cheers
 

Rimasta

Member
Well at the rate China is gathering information through its cyber activities it seems learning to use chopsticks may not be a bad idea now to appease our future overlords. Seriously though, isn't there a way to store data so someone can't hack their way in? Closed networks? Or the really sensitive stuff to paper. Seems like everyone is basically naked and powerless in the face of cyber espionage.
 

gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Lets not assume that the media excitement on this is as accurate as portrayed....

Everyone has been aware of chinas capability in canberra ever since the UK had to rebuild its embassy in the late 90's due to ewarfare probes. Staff were getting physically sick and they ended up removing all staff and relocating them to the old Parlt house while the original embassy premised got internally rebuilt and e-protected.

Canada went through the same problems with theirs (located next to UK Embassy)

the absolute accuracy of the article is questionable but no one is going to give a detailed response.
 
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mysterious

New Member
Chinese hackers 'compromise' US weapons systems designs

Chinese hackers have accessed designs for more than two dozen US weapons systems, a US newspaper has reported.

Designs for combat aircraft, ships and missile defences were among those compromised, a Pentagon paper found, the Washington Post reported.

A public version of the same Defense Science Board report said in January that the US was unprepared for a full-scale cyber attack.

A Pentagon spokesman said "intrusions" had not eroded its technological edge.

The Defense Science Board did not return requests for comment from the BBC.

The Washington Post report comes as Australia discloses Chinese hackers stole floor plans for the new headquarters of its domestic intelligence agency.

The compromised US designs include those for advanced Patriot missile systems called PAC-3, an Army anti-missile system known as Thaad, and the Navy's Aegis ballistic-missile defence system, according to the Washington Post.

The F/A-18 fighter jet, V-22 Osprey aircraft, Black Hawk helicopter and the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ship were also compromised.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive weapons system ever built, was also cited on the list.
'Full confidence'

The reports do not describe the extent of the theft, but correspondents say the hack could give China information that could be used against the US in the event of a conflict.

In a statement, US defence department spokesman George Little said the Pentagon maintained "full confidence in our weapons platforms".

"The Department of Defense takes the threat of cyber espionage and cyber security very seriously, which is why we have taken a number of steps to increase funding to strengthen our capabilities," he said.

"Suggestions that cyber intrusions have somehow led to the erosion of our capabilities or technological edge are incorrect."

BBC News - Chinese hackers 'compromise' US weapons systems designs


Looks like China's getting plenty of bang for its I.T buck! If even 25% of the extent of the reported success of the Chinese cyber attack is true; that is major cause for concern along with being an embarrassing headache for much of the West. The weapons systems named in this report are no small-change items.
 
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