WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- China's computer hacking prowess has U.S. Defense Department officials concerned about maintaining integrity of its computer systems, a Pentagon report said.
China has developed ways to break into and manipulate computer networks around the world, a breakthrough that U.S. defense officials said could be a dangerous military resource, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
The report to Congress indicated the belief that computer network intrusions at the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies, government contractors and think tanks in 2007 "appeared to originate" in China, the newspaper reported.
While not directly accusing China of infiltrating computer systems, the Pentagon paper noted incidents -- including reports of hacking in Germany, France and Britain -- are consistent with Chinese military thinking. David Sedney, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for East Asia, said cyberwar was a growing concern and asked China to clarify its intentions.
"The techniques that are used, the way these intrusions are conducted, are certainly very consistent with what you would need if you were going to actually carry out cyberwarfare and the kinds of activities that are carried out are consistent with a lot of writings we see from Chinese military and Chinese military theorists," Sedney said in the Times' report.
