Sunday, March 29, 2009

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GhostNet - Canadians Find Vast Computer Spy Network


Posted: 28 Mar 2009 08:12 PM PDT


Canadian researchers have uncovered a vast electronic spying
operation that infiltrated computers and stole documents

from government and private offices around the world,

including those of the Dalai Lama, The New York Times

reported on Saturday.


In a report provided to the newspaper, a team from the Munk
Center for International Studies in Toronto said at least 1,295

computers in 103 countries had been breached in less than two
years by the spy system, which it dubbed GhostNet.


Embassies, foreign ministries, government offices and the Dalai
Lama’s Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New

York were among those infiltrated, said the researchers,
who have detected computer espionage in the past.


They found no evidence U.S. government offices were breached.


The researchers concluded that computers based almost

exclusively in China were responsible for the intrusions, although

they stopped short of saying the Chinese government was
involved in the system, which they described as still active.


“We’re a bit more careful about it, knowing the nuance of what
happens in the subterranean realms,” said Ronald Deibert, a

member of the Munk research group, based at the University

of Toronto.


"This could well be the CIA or the Russians. It’s a murky realm
that we’re lifting the lid on.”


A spokesman for the Chinese Consulate in New York dismissed the
idea China
was involved. “These are old stories and they are

nonsense,” the spokesman, Wenqi Gao, told the Times. “The

Chinese government is opposed to and strictly forbids any

cybercrime.”


Source



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