China cyber capability puts U.S. forces at risk: report
Reuters
By Jim Wolf
March 8, 2012
Chinese cyberwarfare would pose a “genuine risk” to the U.S. military in a conflict, for instance over Taiwan or disputes in the South China Sea, according to a report prepared for the U.S. Congress.
Operations against computer networks have become fundamental to Beijing’s military and national development strategies over the past decade, said the 136-page analysis by Northrop Grumman Corp released on Thursday by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Chinese commercial firms, bolstered by foreign partners, are giving the military access to cutting-edge research and technology, the analysis said.
The Chinese military’s close ties to large Chinese telecommunications firms create a path for state-sponsored penetrations of supply networks for electronics used by the U.S. military, government and private industry, it added.
That has the potential to cause a “catastrophic failure of systems and networks supporting critical infrastructure for national security or public safety,” according to the report.
On the military side, “Chinese capabilities in computer network operations have advanced sufficiently to pose genuine risk to U.S. military operations in the event of a conflict,” the report said. …
Read on: www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/us-china-usa-cyberwar-idUSBRE8270AF20120308
