China probing U.S. military networks

WASHINGTON, June 14 (UPI) -- Chinese hackers are continually probing U.S. military networks, primarily for technical information, a top U.S. general said.

"... For the most part, what we're seeing is industrial espionage in large measure," said Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Elder Jr., the Air Force service component to Joint Task Force Global Network Operations at U.S. Strategic Command, Offut Air Force Base, Neb. "Even when they go against our networks that's what they are looking for, system information."

"You can spend 10 to 15 years building a technology or someone can give it to you by leaving it on the table," he said.

China has identified "domination of the electromagnetic spectrum" as one of five military goals.

"China has put a lot of resources into this businesses (but) we have so many nation states (doing that) it's hard to pick your favorite one," he said. "They're the only nation that's been quite that blatant."

Elder said nearly all countries have active cyber-warfare programs, except for North Korea.

"We've concluded there must be only one laptop in North Korea," he joked. "They don't pose a cyber threat."

The U.S. military is extremely reliant on computer networks and satellite communications for warfighting, both of which make computer network attack, also known as information warfare, a tempting area of investment and development for other nation states.

The U.S. military is similarly investing, both in offensive capabilities (the ability to compromise enemy sensors, toy with data bases and interfere with battle management systems) and defensive capabilities.

"Anything we can do to someone else we have to defend ourselves against," he said.

The biggest vulnerability is the "insider threat" -- not necessarily a spy, but a military user who inadvertently opens a "back door" to a secure network with bad security practices, like uploading unapproved software or having an easily hacked password.