Chinese Cyber (war)fare (merged thread)

[AdamG]

In the event of hostilities, a marketing apparatus like this can be turned into an instant Agitprop unit.

In China, paid posters are known as the Internet Water Army because they are ready and willing to 'flood' the internet for whoever is willing to pay. The flood can consist of comments, gossip and information (or disinformation) and there seems to be plenty of demand for this army's services.

This is an insidious tide. Positive recommendations can make a huge difference to a product's sales but can equally drive a competitor out of the market. When companies spend millions launching new goods and services, it's easy to understand why they might want to use every tool at their disposal to achieve success.

The loser in all this is the consumer who is conned into making a purchase decision based on false premises. And for the moment, consumers have little legal redress or even ways to spot the practice.

Today, Cheng Chen at the University of Victoria in Canada and a few pals describe how Cheng worked undercover as a paid poster on Chinese websites to understand how the Internet Water Army works. He and his friends then used what he learnt to create software that can spot paid posters automatically.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog...7357/?p1=blogs

[AdamG]

The New York Times reported Wednesday that the paper has been the subject of a sophisticated attack by Chinese hackers for the last four months, following its reporting on the private wealth of China’s prime minister Wen Jiabao. The story offers a rare and detailed post-mortem of what appears to be the work of a team of well-trained infiltrators who systematically and stealthily gained access to and collected the news outfit’s private information as the paper dug into a subject perceived as highly sensitive by the Chinese government.

One fact, however, will be of particular concern to the world’s largest antivirus firm, Symantec: Out of the 45 different pieces of malware planted on the Times‘ systems over the course of three months, just one of those programs was spotted by the Symantec antivirus software the Times used, according to Mandiant, the data breach response firm hired by the Times. The other 44 were only found in Mandiant’s post-breach investigation months later, according to the Times‘ report.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygree...ew-york-times/

SAN FRANCISCO — For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/te...ers.html?_r=1&

[carl]

AdamG:

Thank you for posting these.

How do you think this thing between Red China and the US will eventually play out?

[Dayuhan]

Is there a "thing" that is "between China and the US"? What thing is it?

[carl]

Don't be coy Dayuhan, it's obvious from the context of the thread.

[AdamG]

China wants to 'be' the United States (without killing the golden goose element of our economy..yet).

At the current rate, all Beijing has to do is stand back and let us collapse under our own stupidity.

If they can give us a push in the right direction without leaving any fingerprints, they will.

Pax Americana Delende Est

[Dayuhan]

I see nothing in the context of the thread to suggest a situation that's "between China and the US".

China seems to me far more likely to collapse under the weight of internal issues than the US: their internal issues dwarf ours.

[carl]

China wants to 'be' the United States (without killing the golden goose element of our economy..yet).

At the current rate, all Beijing has to do is stand back and let us collapse under our own stupidity.

If they can give us a push in the right direction without leaving any fingerprints, they will.

Pax Americana Delende Est

A lot said with few words. Good job.