China seeks cyber edge, says US
2007-06-14 12:46
Washington - China is seeking to unseat
the United States as the dominant power in cyberspace, a US Air Force general leading a new push in this area said
on Wednesday.
"They're the only nation that has been quite that blatant
about saying, 'We're looking to do that,'" 8th Air Force
Commander Lt Gen Robert Elder told reporters.
Elder is to head a new three-star cyber command being set
up at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, already home to
about 25 000 military personnel involved in everything from
electronic warfare to network defence.
The command's focus is to control the cyber domain,
critical to everything from communications to surveillance to
infrastructure security.
"We have peer competitors right now in terms of doing
computer network attack?and I believe we're going to be
able to ratchet up our capability," Elder said. "We're going to
go way ahead."
'Electromagnetic dominance'
The Defence Department said in its annual report on China's
military power last month that China regarded computer network
operations - attacks, defence and exploitation - as critical
to achieving "electromagnetic dominance" early in a conflict.
China's People's Liberation Army has established
information warfare units to develop viruses to attack enemy
computer systems and networks, the Pentagon said.
China also was investing in electronic countermeasures and
defences against electronic attack, including infrared decoys,
angle reflectors and false-target generators, it said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected the US report as
"brutal interference" in China's internal affairs and insisted
Beijing's military preparations were purely defensive.
Elder described the bulk of current alleged Chinese
cyber-operations as industrial espionage aimed at stealing
trade secrets to save years of high-tech development.
'Only one laptop in all North Korea'
He attributed the espionage to a mix of criminals, hackers
and "nation-state" forces. Virtually all potential US foes
also were scanning US networks for trade and defence secrets,
he added.
"Everyone but North Korea," he said. "We've concluded that
there must be only one laptop in all of North Korea - and that
guy's not allowed to scan" overseas networks, Elder said.
In October, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff defined
cyberspace as "characterised by the use of electronics and the
electromagnetic spectrum to store, modify, and exchange data
via networked systems and associated physical
infrastructures."
The definition is broad enough to cover far more than
merely defending or attacking computer networks.
Other concerns
include remotely detonated roadside bombs in Iraq, interference
with Global Positioning Satellites and satellite
communications, internet financial transactions by adversaries,
and radar and navigational jamming.