Chinese Hackers Suspected to be Behind December Cyber Attacks in India

Jan. 19 – Chinese hackers are suspected to be behind cyber attacks made on Indian government offices in December 15.

The security breach occurred when an e-mail attached with a PDF document was found to contain a “Trojan” virus that gives hackers remote access to a computer; allowing them to download or delete files.

India’s national security adviser, M.K. Narayanan, told The Times of London: “People seem to be fairly sure it was the Chinese. It is difficult to find the exact source but this is the main suspicion. It seems well founded.”

In the same month, cyber attacks were also reported by American defense contractors as well as finance and technology companies, including Google. VeriSign’s  security intelligence company, iDefense Labs said in a report that “the source IPs and drop server of the attack correspond to a single foreign entity consisting either of agents of the Chinese state or proxies thereof.”

The Indian news comes after Google made a surprise announcement last week saying it would stop censoring its Chinese portal even at the risk of  leaving the Chinese market completely after a spate of cyber attacks targeting companies and human rights activists were found to have come from inside the country.

The cyber attack on Indian government offices is expected to add tension to India-China relations already fraught with border and Tibet issues. India is also wary of China’s close diplomatic relations with Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan and views Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean as a potential security threat.

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