Did Chinese officials copy U.S. government laptop data and use it in hack?

The U.S. government is looking into allegations that Chinese officials snagged a laptop left unattended by a top U.S. official there, copied the data and then used it to try to hack into U.S. government computers, according to a report by The Associated Press.

The incident is alleged to have happened during Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez's trip to Beijing in December, unidentified sources told the AP. Gutierrez told the wire service he couldn't comment on an ongoing investigation.

Since then, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, known as US-CERT, responded to computer network break-ins at least three times, the report says.

"The Pentagon, State Department and Commerce Department all have been victimized by widespread computer intrusions blamed on China since July 2006," with the Commerce Department even having to unplug itself from the Internet, as a result, the article says.

[MCOjerry]

What kind of idiot takes a laptop to China and leaves it unattended? He should be fired, no questions. Stupid move.

[adambrower]

but...the chinese your *friends!* and all this about friends "hacking" u.s. systems only anti-chinese western press hysteria. why are press so hate of chinese people? all world love chinese people. maybe friendly chinese only want make better website for u.s. friends.

[Raymond Lui]

Even it's left unattained, aren't these high ranking officials' computer supposed to be highly protected by encryptions and other security measures?

[kevinuibe]

I doubt this accident very much.If it is fabricated by anybody who is always antagnism against chinese people?It is really unnecessary.I don't think US and China are zero game.Americans should know more about present china and chinese people!

[adambrower]

any report by US-CERT is beyond question: the incidents did happen. there have been, and are now in progress, hundreds of such intrusion attempts from chinese servers. this is not even news, and it's not "fabricated." perhaps chinese people need to be less trusting of their own media. and many americans already know a great deal about present-day china - for instance, the americans at US-CERT.

[BloggerRadio]

We are learning more about them each time we open a tube of poison toothpaste, or dog or cat food, or lead-laced childrens' toys, or poison seafood. Ah-so.

[nothardly]

Lots of questions, but -

How long was it 'unattended'?

What's the going rate for 'unattending' a laptop?

Not against the Chinese people - but we certainly need to be leary of the Chinese government.

[mjones777]

This would not be the first time that the Chinese attempted to access sensitive U.S. sites.

The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June of 2007, in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department.

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/09/04/chinese-military-pla-hacked-pentagon-computers

And later in the year....

Hackers compromised dozens of Department of Homeland Security computers in September moving sensitive information to Chinese-language Web sites. Investigators pointed a finger at a government contractor, saying the firm hired to protect DHS computers tried to hide the incidents from the department.

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2007/09/25/homeland-security-computers-hacked/

[boltmaninabq]

Companies and government personnel should be provided "special" laptops for travel to foreign countries. No personal or classified info on these laptops is allowed. The hard drive and all other media should be encrypted. When the user comes back from foreign travel, a dedicated IT group takes the laptop back, and performs forensics on the laptop and peripherals, then the machine gets wiped and reloaded for the next trip.

[mikalg]

What?! You English bad!

[Dalkorian]

I wouldn't put it past fuhrer bushit to have organized this to "prove" his "need" of snooping on the entire internet ("See, the chinese are attacking our computers! We need to inspect every packet going across the intertubes in order to stop the terrorists and chinese hackers!"). The moron who "left the laptop unattended" should be fired and the current illegal treasonous regime should be impeached and sent to Hague for trials on war crimes and crimes against humanity (they could add this act to his numerous previous crimes). Unfortunately, I don't think that's gonna happen.

[fuzzyCWD]

through PERSONAL knowledge, i know that not all internet attacks with "chinese ip" originate in china. China is one of the EASIEST places to set up proxy-through-software lines. ever use "hide my ip"? first place is connects you to is CHINA. then, MAYBE, europe (italy or turkey)