Source: DTN News / Int'l Media(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - April 7, 2010: Sensitive security information linked to India's missile and armament systems may have been compromised by Chinese hackers believed to have broken into top secret files of the Indian Defense Ministry.
The allegation stems from a report published by a group of U.S. and Canadian computer security researchers who monitored a spying operation, observing the trails of the hackers as they pilfered classified and restricted documents from India's Defense Ministry.Among the systems believed to have been hacked is the Shakti, the newly introduced artillery combat and control system of the Indian army, and the Iron Dome, the country's mobile missile defense system, local media reported.
According to the report, researchers based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto managed to provide a detailed account of the spying operation called Shadow Network, documenting not only what material had been hacked but accessing confidential documents, also, about India's relations in West Africa, Russia and the Middle East.
While the identity and designs of the intruders have yet to be determined, the researchers traced the spy operation to computer servers in Chengdu, western China.
The findings of the report have sparked concern within the ranks of the government in India, which said earlier this week that it was investigating the allegations.
"This is a serious issue and we are looking into it," Sitansu Kar, a spokesman for the ministry, was quoted as saying in Business Week report.
The allegations follow a move by Google Inc. to redirect users of its Chinese Web site to Hong Kong "to avoid the nation's censorship laws after the U.S. company said it had detected cyberattacks from mainland on human-rights activists," Business Week reported.
At the time, the case underscored mounting concerns over the growing trend of cyber espionage. Ahead of the report's publication, India stopped short of acknowledging that government networks had been attacked by China, saying that "no one attempt had been successful."
Chinese officials have since then rebuffed any allegation of involvement.
"The Chinese government considers hacking a cancer to the whole of society," said Ye Lao, a state official in Western China.
The Dalai Lama's office was also part of the research.
"From what we are seeing, the people attacking our computers have a very systematic approach to reading our private communications," said Tenzin Takhla, the exiled Tibetan leader's secretary.
"What the experts have told us is that they these are coming out of China, and that makes sense."
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