back to article Congressmen say Chinese hacked their PCs

Lawmakes are urging everyone on Capitol Hill to have their computers checked for malware after discovering that people working from inside China hacked into multiple congressional machines and accessed locations of Chinese dissidents and other sensitive data. Virginia Representative Frank Wolf said four of his PCs were …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It is always the Chinese :)

    I think it is China way of saying we need to firewall them in rather than have the expense borne by the Chinese government for the Great Firewall of China.

    Which is oddly a bit like the irony of the Original Great Wall of China, which was really designed to keep the Chinese in, by the third build.

    China is going to be a force to reckon with, is already, and they have limited the birth rate, which is on the face of it a good move. The jostling is about who is the world superpower, can the US better the Chinese in the cyber plane, well so far no.

  2. Will Godfrey Silver badge

    McCarthyism is alive and well

    So it's not the big bad Ruskies this time, it's the sneaky little Chinamen.

    Every time the playground bullies think they're not getting what they want, they look for another bad boy to blame.

  3. zcat
    Black Helicopters

    "Hacked by Chinese!"

    is this a Code Red security breech?

  4. Todd Anderson
    Pirate

    Act of War?

    Why wouldn't this class of hacking be considered an act of War? Isn't there evidence that this is supported and funded by the PLA?

  5. T. Harrell
    Alert

    Stored what? Where?!

    "His office no longer stores the names of Chinese dissidents on computers"

    I think that sums it up. Did he think all those crazy security standards the CIA and NSA have were for nothing? Was there no reason that information must be hand entered into secured non-networked systems? Me-thinks he should stick to trying to keep a notebook secure. That will be quite difficult enough for him.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    @ Will Godfrey

    Aren't you glad that you live outside of China and can make critical remarks without being blackbagged (yet)? Personally, I'm glad someone is being critical of China, especially since things like the Patriot Act in the US sure sound Chinese to me.

    Mines the one with the sickle and anvil going up in flames on the back...

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    This is a pre-war behavior!

    This behavior is too far to a "civilized country" can do! Pre-war behavior!

  8. StillNoCouch
    Paris Hilton

    @ Will Godfrey

    Thank you for illustrating your lack of illumination on the subjects of history, fact and reason.

    It's always a pleasure to hear people speak their minds ... it makes it that much easier for the rest of us to quickly identify the truly foolish.

    <-- Paris because she has more of a clue than Willie.

  9. Steven Swenson
    Linux

    A secure system--

    --has the penguin on it.

    Politicians have a hard enough time using windows though, not to mention the series of tubes that connects them to the internets. They'd be hopeless on linux.

    Didn't these people graduate from prominent universities?

  10. tempemeaty
    Joke

    Most favored what?!

    Ohhhh yes, the Chinese mean to shower us with flowers and are our beeeeeeest friends. They want to love us and hold us and squeeze us and.....

  11. Seán

    D'you like dags, capitalist dags

    Having the Chinese take over is probably the only cure for USAyness. Lets face it the yanks are falling further away from the European model and degenerating into barbarians faster than they can build rockets (Predator in CH11). Whatever fructose and poison induced craziness is going on in the US, stupidity now rules with an iron fist, even compared to the McCarthy days.

    The Chinese hopefully will put some discipline on their new possessions and the southern states get to see the return of their beloved slavery albeit in a slightly different format.

    It's either that or sub contract the Russians to nuke the US, but then there's the environmental problems.

  12. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Boffin

    Tough questions in the comment section -- answered!

    "Why wouldn't this class of hacking be considered an act of War?"

    Because it isn't?

    It's that simple.

  13. Henry Cobb
    Gates Horns

    Gates to Gitmo yet?

    What more evidence of treason is needed?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Pot calls kettle black

    Congressmen that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

    Commentators indignant but miss the point

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    p*rn

    maybe if they werent all downloading p*rn from t'internet they wouldnt get malware on their machines

  16. Paul

    It seem...

    that people are asuming that all politicians know nothing. It seems to me this guy is quight clued up about PCs for a non IT person. As for "well if he had used proper AV..." some people seem to be forgeting this is probably not some script kid or bot farmer, this looks like it might be the Chinese equivelent of the NSA or GCHQ, probably writing there own stuff never seen befor by AV vendors, so AV would probably be know use.

  17. Steen Hive
    Black Helicopters

    Life's a riot with Spy vs Spy

    US Congressmen keeping info on "Chinese dissidents"?

    Now *that* sounds like "pre-war behavior"! What's Chinese for "Playa Girón"?

  18. Dr. E. Amweaver
    Coat

    thing about Chinese hack attacks...

    ...twenty minutes later, you want another one.

    Coat, obviously.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Don't know what the fuss is all about...

    I guess storing confidential data on unsecured computers is marginally more secure than printing it off on hard copy and leaving it on public transport for all and sundry. Either way, politicians and civil servants are their own worst security leaks.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7449255.stm

  20. This post has been deleted by its author

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    They took their time

    in announcing it! 2006 and 2007 was some time ago now.

  22. david

    Lame congressmen

    So it is my understanding that these computers were not up on anti-spyware software updates. That these congressmen went to known web sites with malware on them. And then they blame others for their failure to secure their computers. What fools!

    Grow up and join the new world. You have to run anti-virus and anti-spyware software, update security patches on your computer, and do not go to sites with malware on them.

    These congressmen are just trying to drum up anti-China fervor by supporting known anti-chinese groups. China has every right to view these groups the same way Americans view Osama Bin Laden and Al-queda.

  23. NoCo37
    Paris Hilton

    @Steven Swenson

    A secure system has any OS, but no network connection and no ability for a user to access it.

    I really wonder if their machines were hacked or if they got a few pop-ups and redirects from doing "research" on some Asian websites.

    Even Paris knows not to look for p0rn while on a government computer.

  24. Rich

    If you are going to the olympics

    Forget about taking any electronic device - the whole place is going to be spiked with every hacking tool known to mankind. I am surprised that the media hasn't made more of this. Just take your trusty film cameral, and wait till you get home to send all those great shots out to friends.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Paranoid

    Sometimes the world is really out to get you, even if you are not paranoid! Hard to tell the difference, but the results are nearly the same.

    Paris loves noids!

  26. heystoopid
    Alien

    Ah

    Ah , the fear of "IT" strikes again , the false spin doctors and local perpetrators weave their tales of fiction to cover their steps "Watergate Style" whilst the real enemy resides just down the road in Maryland !

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Let me see if I have all the details right...

    Dear USA Congress-person and/or Federal Court Judge,

    it is my understanding that:

    (1) The dog ate your homework.

    (2) The Chinese hacked your laptop.

    (3) The Russians posted hard porn images to your web site.

    (4) The Pirate Bay saved illegal MP3's to your hard drive.

    All of this while you were somewhere else, doing something

    important.

    What's that? Number 1 happened to you in high school?

    Well then. We'll simply cross-out number one and proceed

    to number 2.

    On a more serious note...

    Truly, we are living in the age of incompetence.

    - The Garret

    Paris. Because she has an excuse for everything.

  28. Jeff
    Coat

    perception and double deception

    Another excuse under the new "act" to wage a cyber war against these

    persistent little -communist boogers.

    They have been hard at us for a while ,and still are , but the odd "friendly fire "

    appearing to come from the enemy adds cred again to mass the troops

    and DOS them ..

    Lets watch our backs anyways ...70% of the traffic from CH is true anyways

    so what does a little help from the inside do for a cause .?

    I feel for the persons responsible for the admins of those laptops etc.

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