The Chinese government for the first time admitted that it has highly skilled group of hackers in its army; supported, equipped and trained by the government officials.
Channel4 reports that an intelligence source inside the army shared the secret information which confirms the presence of hackers in the Chinese army that are will be used at the time of cyber warfare.
The group of elite hackers in the China’s People’s Liberation Army is known as “cyber blue team” that will be working as a defensive wall against any kind of cyber attack against the country.
This is the first time when a responsible source has accepted the presence of hackers in China’s Liberation Army, which according to some is a threat to cyberspace of other countries especially USA, UK, India, Japan and anyone who is against China.
In February, Chinese hackers targeted multinational energy firms to steal information, in an attack called “Night Dragon”, and last year the Government said cyber attacks were one of the biggest security threats faced by the UK, as reported by Channel4.
The presence of Elite hackers in the Chinese army was also confirmed by Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman, Geng Yansheng, in a briefing in Xinhua as he said that:
The team was set up to “better safeguard the internet security of the armed forces. Internet security was an international problem, affecting civil and military areas. China is still “relatively weak” in internet security protection, and vulnerable to cyber-terrorism.
A British intelligence analyst Glenmore Trenear-Harvey added his views on the issue by saying that:
The intelligence agencies of many countries believe that China has elite hacking team within the army for over 5 years. There can be “literally thousands” of hackers within China had been recruited to form a “botnet army“, attacking from unsuspecting computers. They can then use this capability either to conduct a denial of service, taking down sites, or acting as a Trojan horse to get within computers and steal information.
“As an offensive tool that is very much something the People’s Liberation Army would do,” he added.
“This is not just conventional military powers. Put bluntly, everyone’s at it. It is a game anyone can play. For example Japan has a formidable capacity and we have no idea what it is doing with it – and Singapore, Switzerland, Israel,” Mr Inkster, who used to work in the British Secret Intelligence Service, warned.
Mr. Trenear-Harvey added:
It is one of the greatest threats we have, and we have the Communications Electronic Security Group (CESG) advising all Government departments on how to protect themselves.
“But do remember that we – the US and UK – are doing this in reverse and we are very successful. It’s an incredibly potent weapon which will certainly be utilized.”
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