【环球时报综合报道】“美国国家安全局（NSA）曾入侵中国科技公司华为总部的服务器”，美国《纽约时报》和德国《明镜》周刊22日同时刊发美国前情报人员斯诺登的最新爆料。《明镜》周刊称，美国的监控目标还包括数位中国前任国家领导人和多个政府部门及银行。斯诺登此前的爆料称，德国总理默克尔的个人通信也在美国的监控之下。华为公司23日发给《环球时报》的声明称：如果《纽约时报》的报道属实，我们对于此类入侵、渗透到我们的内部网络并监控通信的行为表示强烈谴责。尽管当今数字时代的现状就是公司的网络不断遭到来自不同源头的监控和攻击。但我们再次重申，华为反对一切危害网络安全的行为，并愿意以最为开放透明的态度与各国政府、行业、用户一起合作，共同应对全球网络安全挑战。
在“棱镜门”事件去年曝光之前，美国长期指责中国针对美国发动黑客攻击，并声称许多黑客具有军方背景。美国一些政客以华为公司与中国军方“关系不清”为由，开始怀疑该公司可能在产品中暗藏“后门”。但据《纽约时报》称，斯诺登曝光的一份NSA2010年的文件显示，在国安局一个代号为“攻击巨人”的行动中，华为反而是美国间谍行动的目标之一。这一行动起始于2007年，最初目标在于寻找华为与中国军方存在关系的证据。大约3年后，隶属于国安局的“获得特定情报行动办公室”终于发现了一种侵入华为公司总部服务器的办法，并窃取了华为创始人任正非的通信记录等信息。
这份最新曝光的文件并未提及国安局是否如愿搜集到了华为与军方存在关系的证据，但美国众议院情报委员会2012年发表的一份报告承认，没有证据表明华为等中国公司存在官方背景。据《纽约时报》报道，NSA针对华为的间谍行为并未止于“搜证”，入侵该公司的服务器后，NSA开始据此进行进一步监控。伊朗、阿富汗、巴基斯坦、肯尼亚和古巴等不愿购买美国设备的国家大量采用了华为的技术设备，NSA“发觉可以通过侵入华为设备来监控这些国家的目标”,“文件显示，只要获得美国总统的许可，国安局还可针对这些目标发动网络攻击”。《明镜》周刊引述NSA一份内部文件说，“我们取得了太多数据和资料，多到不知道该怎么办。”
“中美‘电子冷战’加速”，美国《时代》周刊23日评论称，网络安全一直是中美关系的症结之一，一般是美国怀疑中国政府及其黑客入侵美国政府及企业的网络，但最新的爆料提供了另外的视角。《华盛顿邮报》23日引述华为美国业务高管普卢默的话称，华为并不知道自己是NSA的目标，“讽刺的是，美国指控中国针对美国的所作所为，实际上恰恰是美国针对我们的做法”。他还表示，如果NSA真对华为开展了间谍行动，正好可以借此明白华为与中国政府没有关系，而是一家独立企业。
“华盛顿正在失去其道德”，德国《焦点》周刊23日引述外交政策专家的评论称，“多年来美国一直以‘中国间谍和黑客攻击’为由向中国施压。而实际上，美国自己才是窃听者”。德国新闻电视台称，美国几乎在全方位监听“整个中国”，“说到底，这是因为美国害怕中国超越自己成为世界超级大国”。（本报驻美国、德国特派特约记者陈一鸣青木）
斯诺登新爆料：美国曾监听胡锦涛
23/03/2014｜观察者网美国对德国总理默克尔的间谍行为曾引发轩然大波，而德国《明镜》周刊和美国《纽约时报》周六（22日）报道，斯诺登提供的最新爆料显示，美国国家安全局（NSA）也曾对中国政府开展广泛的监控，前国家主席胡锦涛就成为监控对象。报道还指出，美国国安局窃取了中国通信设备巨头华为的产品源代码和1400余名客户资料。《明镜》引述外交政策专家评论称，一直热炒“中国间谍和黑客”的美国政府贼喊捉贼，无非是因为害怕中国超越自己成为世界超级大国。
胡锦涛、华为都是监控对象
德国《明镜》周刊网站22日报道称，该刊获得的美国国家安全局前雇员爱德华·斯诺登提供的文件所表明，美国针对中国进行大规模网络进攻，并把数位中国前任领导人和华为公司列为目标。
报道称，美国情报机构攻击的目标包括中国前国家主席胡锦涛、商务部、外交部、银行和电信公司。
美国国安局尤其花大力气监控全球第二大通信设备供应商华为公司。2009年初，该局启动了一项针对华为的大规模行动。华为是世界第二大通信网络设备供应商，被视为美国巨头思科公司最大的竞争对手。
美国国安局的一个特别小组成功渗透进了华为公司的计算机网络，并复制了超过1400个客户的资料和工程师使用的内部培训文件。
根据美国国安局的一份秘密文件，该局人员不但窃取了华为的电子邮件存档，还获得了个别华为产品的源代码。源代码被视为信息技术企业最神圣的东西。美国国安局渗入华为的深圳总部，因为该公司通过总部处理每个员工的邮件往来，所以美国人从2009年1月起就读取了该公司很大一部分员工的电子邮件——包括总裁任正非和董事长孙亚芳的邮件。
该行动是在白宫情报协调员、中央情报局和联邦调查局的介入下实施的。
德国《明镜》周刊网站截图
试图利用华为设备监控别国
德国《明镜》周刊指出，美国国安局声称对华为的监控是出于安全考虑。美国官方长期指责中国政府针对美国发动黑客攻击，并声称许多黑客具有军方背景。美国一些政客以华为公司与中国军方“关系不清”为由，开始怀疑该公司可能在产品中暗藏“后门”。
美国国安局的一份内部文件说，“我们的很多目标是通过华为产品进行通信的”，“我们想要确保自己知道如何利用这些产品获取进入（世界各地）我们感兴趣的网络的机会。”美方还担心“中国利用华为遍布世界各地的设施搞间谍活动”。
美国《纽约时报》也曝光了NSA对华为的监控，并称美国希望对华为的技术加以利用。伊朗、阿富汗、巴基斯坦、肯尼亚和古巴等不愿购买美国设备的国家大量采用了华为的技术设备，NSA“发觉可以通过侵入华为设备来监控这些国家的目标”，“文件显示，只要获得美国总统的许可，国安局还可针对这些目标发动网络攻击”。
这份最新曝光的文件并未提及国安局是否如愿搜集到了华为与军方存在关系的证据，但美国众议院情报委员会2012年发表的一份报告承认，没有证据表明华为等中国公司存在官方背景。
美国担心网络霸权旁落
《明镜》周刊还指出，中国网络企业的崛起也让美国担心失去其长期以来的霸主地位，美国国安局认为，如果能够了解华为的运作方式，那么未来将会得到回报。报道称，迄今为止，网络结构由西方主宰，但中国人将努力使西方的公司变得“更不重要”。那样的话，迄今由美国公司主导的互联网技术标准将被打破，中国将逐步控制网络中的信息流。
“中美‘电子冷战’加速”，美国《时代》周刊23日评论称，网络安全一直是中美关系的症结之一，一般是美国怀疑中国政府及其黑客入侵美国政府及企业的网络，但最新的爆料提供了另外的视角。《华盛顿邮报》23日引述华为美国业务高管普卢默的话称，华为并不知道自己是NSA的目标，“讽刺的是，美国指控中国针对美国的所作所为，实际上恰恰是美国针对我们的做法”。他还表示，如果NSA真对华为开展了间谍行动，正好可以借此明白华为与中国政府没有关系，而是一家独立企业。
“华盛顿正在失去其道德”，德国《焦点》周刊23日引述外交政策专家的评论称，“多年来美国一直以‘中国间谍和黑客攻击’为由向中国施压。而实际上，美国自己才是窃听者”。德国新闻电视台称，美国几乎在全方位监听“整个中国”，“说到底，这是因为美国害怕中国超越自己成为世界超级大国”。
方兴东：攻击华为，美国须给中国个交代
24/03/2014｜方兴东| 观察者网
近日报道称，斯诺登曝光文件显示，美国国家安全局入侵了华为总部服务器，并监视华为高层通信。
这一事件值得中国警醒。美国对中国的入侵和监控能力、渗透程度之深之广，远超我们想象。华为只是冰山一角，只是中国信息系统被美国深度渗透的受害者之一。据《明镜》周刊报道，美国国安局监听目标还包括中国商务部、中资银行和电信企业等。中国强大的高科技企业尚且失守，那党政军部门、通信、金融、交通、能源、广电等关键基础设施又何以设防？
美国过去对华为提出各种指控，如今看来却是贼喊捉贼。正如华为北美副总裁威廉•普鲁莫所说，“他们对我们的所作所为恰恰是他们指责的中国对美国的行动。”美国国安局入侵华为，如果华为真存在什么问题，那早就可以铁证如山。入侵曝光从另一个角度证明华为的清白，虽然这个角度是如此令人苦涩。
美国过去对华为提出各种指控，如今看来却是贼喊捉贼。
美国一再辩称其行为只是为保证国家安全，但已远超出反恐和安全的范畴，其虚伪更加暴露无遗。美国国安局针对华为的行动命名为“攻击巨人”（Shotgiant）。可见其目的不是防御性的，而是进攻性的，是要“射杀”华为这家中国迅速崛起的科技巨头。
在美国的进攻性战略下，我们连基本的防御能力都没有，根本不具备针对美国的进攻能力。而没有攻防兼备的能力，网络强国将永远只是梦想。
针对美国的全局性入侵，中国当务之急是尽早建立起基本的侦测、排查和有效防御能力。网络安全的基础课程应成为中央网络安全与信息化领导小组的头等大事。操作系统、CPU、路由器、数据库和大型机等核心技术受制于人的困境，也必须尽快采取有效对策。
回顾十多年来，美国思科公司对华为的知识产权诉讼和传播不利信息等手段，以及美国国会阻止华为中兴进入美国市场的报告，可勾勒出美国政府、企业和情报部门多层次联动狙击华为的战略轮廓。这不但极不公平，而且也违背基本的国际准则，而这些都不是华为依靠自身努力能够解决的。
如果没有国家后盾，没有外交的合理支持，没有对等的市场准入制度，华为等企业就只能在极度不公平的环境下生存发展，这也将严重制约中国走向网络强国的进程。
中国政府应通过外交、法律和舆论等手段，要求美国立即停止对中国企业和基础设施的入侵行为。并团结其他国家，在各种国际组织层面对美施加压力，促使美国纠正违背国际准则的行为。针对网络空间的安全保障和治理政策，应制定更加明确的共同国际准则，维护全球互联网健康有序发展。
一切损害互联网精神的行为终将得到时代趋势的惩罚。希望事件的曝光，促使美国损害全球互联网治理体系的行为早日收手。希望今天华为的失守，能为早日守住中国网络空间提供最好的警示。
美国安局入侵华为总部服务器长达数年 经总统批准可发起网络攻击
据美国《纽约时报》23日报道，美国官员一直将中国的电信巨头华为视为安全威胁，为此他们千方百计阻止华为的美国业务，以防其设备的“后门”会让中国军方或政府支持的黑客窃取公司和政府机密。但是，最近公布的机密文件显示，美国国家安全局（NSA）在华为的网络上开了自己的“后门”，并对华为实施了长达7年的监控。
根据美中央情报局（CIA）前员工爱德华·斯诺登最新爆出的机密文件，NSA入侵了华为深圳总部的服务器，获取了华为路由器和交换机相关工作的信息，并监控着华为高管的通信。华为曾表示，其路由器和交换机产品连接了全球1/3的人口。
这份2010年的文件显示，这次行动的代号为“狙击巨人（Shotgiant）”，目的是调查华为和解放军之间的关系。但是NSA显然走得更远——利用华为技术中的漏洞，因此当华为在全球许多国家，包括美国的盟国和不购买美国产品的其他国家销售产品时，NSA可以通过入侵华为的设备来进行监控。此外，在获得总统许可的情况下，NSA还可以发起攻击性的活动。
文件显示，早在2007年，NSA就开始了一项针对华为的监控计划。到了2010年，NSA的“获取特定情报行动办公室”（TAO）找到了入侵华为总部网络的方法。NSA借此收集了任正非的大量通信记录。
NSA的文件显示：“我们的许多目标使用华为制造的产品来通信。我们希望确保了解如何利用这些产品的漏洞。”NSA希望能入侵全球范围内其感兴趣的网络。
《纽约时报》和德国《明镜》周刊曝光了这些文件，而这些文件也是《明镜》出版的新书《NSA综合体》的一部分。这些文件，以及对情报部门官员的采访，进一步展示了美国与中国之间升级的“数字冷战”。尽管中美两国最高领导人已开始探讨限制这样的数字冲突，但到目前为止这种冲突正在升级。
根据多名美国现任和前任官员的说法，NSA正追踪着20多个中国黑客组织，并认为其中超过一半隶属于中国军方。这些黑客组织入侵了美国政府、谷歌等大公司，以及无人机和核武器元件制造商的网络。而自去年美国媒体的一项报道以来，这样的攻击活动愈演愈烈。
对于中国对美国的黑客活动，以及美国情报部门对中国和其他国家的黑客活动，奥巴马政府给出了不同说法。美国官员多次表示，NSA入侵国外的网络仅仅是为了合法的国家安全目的。白宫一名发言人凯特琳·海登(Caitlin Hayden)表示：“我们不会将获取的情报交给美国公司，以加强它们的国际竞争力或帮助它们提升业绩。但许多国家并不是这样。”
但这并不意味着美国政府不会因多种不同目的自行开展企业间谍活动。在2010年的文件中，情报部门描述了对华为进行攻击的理由。一名分析师表示：“如果我们能确认该公司的计划和意图，那么我们希望这将帮助我们理解中国政府的计划和意图。”NSA还看到了额外的机会：随着华为投资开发新技术，并部署海底光缆连接其年规模400亿美元的电信网络帝国，美国情报部门可以由此刺探华为客户中的关键目标，包括伊朗、阿富汗、巴基斯坦、肯尼亚和古巴的“高优先级目标”。
不过，这些文件并未解答美国眼中的一个中心问题：华为是否如其管理层所说是一家独立公司，还是与美国政府官员所说的一样与中国军方有关？
在“狙击巨人（Shotgiant）”行动全面开展两年之后，美国众议院情报委员会发布了关于华为和中兴的一份非加密报告。报告中称，没有证据表明这些公司与中国政府有关。不过，这份2012年10月的报告仍认为，必须阻止这些公司在美国的收购和并购活动，同时“无法完全相信这些公司不会受到外国政府的影响”。
华为随后放弃了电信设备业务突破美国市场的努力，并表示该公司是贸易保护的受害者。华为高管坚称，该公司与中国军方没有任何关系。
华为美国业务高管威廉·普鲁莫(William Plummer)表示，华为并不清楚自己是否成为了NSA的目标。他同时表达了自己的个人看法：“讽刺的是，他们对我们的所作所为恰恰是他们指责的中国对美国的所作所为。如果真的存在这种间谍活动，那么他们可以知道，公司是独立的，与任何政府都没有关联。这样的信息应当被传达给公众，以解决这方面的误解和信息缺失。”
华为跟军方有联系吗？
但斯诺登曝光的这份机密文件并没有回答核心问题：华为到底独立的公司，还是解放军的前线部队？华为的领导说是前者，美国官员认为是后者，但从来没有证明过。
当“狙击巨人”项目实施两年之后，2012年10月，众议院情报委员会公开发表了一份针对华为和中兴的报告，在没有引用任何证据的情况下指控这些公司与中国政府有关。该报告称必须禁止它们与美国公司从事“收购或兼并”业务，而且“不能相信它们不受外国影响”。
华为称自己是贸易保护主义的受害者，公司高管称与解放军没有任何联系。
华为对外事务副总裁威廉·普拉默（William Plummer）在接受《纽约时报》采访时表示，华为不知道自己已经成为NSA的目标，他表示，“讽刺的是，他们对我们的做法正是他们指控我们的由头。”
“假如我们真实施了这样的间谍活动，”普拉默说， “那么他们应该知道我们是一家独立的公司，跟政府没有任何不寻常的往来。他们应当公开澄清，终结这种错误和虚假的消息。”
华为遭遇多次封杀
美国政府早在10年前就对华为的业务表示了担忧，当时美国智库机构兰德公司评估了中国对美国的潜在军事威胁。兰德公司认为，华为等中国民营公司是新的“数字三角”的一部分。在这一“数字三角”中，企业、学术界和政府部门进行了秘密合作。
华为目前已是一家全球巨头。该公司开发了互联网骨干设备，铺设了连接亚洲和非洲的海底光缆，并成为位居三星和苹果公司之后的全球第三大智能手机厂商。
推动华为发展的是华为的唯一创始人任正非，70年代时他曾是中国军方的一名工程师。在中国，任正非有些类似于史蒂夫·乔布斯(Steve Jobs)。80年代中期，他以3000美元的资金起步，发展起了一个数字帝国，并成功应对了国有企业和外资企业的竞争。不过在美国官员看来，任正非与中国军方存在关联。
随后，美国多次阻止华为进入美国市场。例如，Sprint与华为之间价值30亿美元的4G设备采购被叫停；华为收购3Com的交易由于可能对美国军方不利而被否决；而澳大利亚等美国盟国也被呼吁不要让华为参与主要电信项目的建设。
文件显示，早在2007年，NSA就启动了针对华为的项目。到2010年，NSA下属“获取特定情报行动办公室”找到了一种入侵华为总部服务器的方式。一份文件显示，NSA收集了任正非的通信记录。不过分析师认为，仍有许多通信记录未能被记录。
NSA的分析师明确表示，他们所寻找的并不仅仅是华为与中国政府之间存在联系的“信号情报”。他们还希望了解如何入侵华为的系统，因此当其他国家采购华为的设备时，美国情报机构能入侵这些网络。（应美国政府国家安全方面的要求，《纽约时报》隐去了这一行动的技术细节。）
NSA对中国的情报活动并不仅仅局限于华为。根据2013年4月斯诺登曝光的文件，去年，NSA入侵了中国两家大型移动通信网络，从而得以追踪具有战略重要性的中国军方部门。文件显示，其他主要目标包括中国领导人的办公场所。与其他人一样，中国领导人也在不断升级至更好、更快的WiFi网络，而NSA也在持续寻找新的入侵方式。
NSA Spied on Chinese Telecoms Giant
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden
reveals documents showing that U.S. secretly infiltrated Chinese telecoms firm
Huawei to investigate its links to China's government, in an escalation of the
'digital cold war' between U.S. and China
A National Security Agency program spied on
the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei to investigate its links to the Chinese
government and to gain access to company servers used by its clients around the
world, according to newly leaked documents.
The latest revelations from former NSA
contractor Edward Snowden, provided to the New
York Times and German magazine Der
Spiegel, show that while U.S. government officials openly suspected Huawei
of collaborating with Chinese intelligence, the NSA was covertly infiltrating
the company’s servers.
The operation, codenamed “Shotgiant,”aimed
to find a link between the company and China’s People’s Liberation Army, as
well as ensure that the NSA could infiltrate clients of Huawai—the largest
telecoms firm in the world–around the world, including targets in Iran and
Pakistan.
Cybersecurity has been a key sticking point
in diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China, but they generally focus on
U.S. suspicions that the Chinese government and Chinese-based hackers are
infiltrating U.S. government and company networks.
Accusations that Huawei
gives the government access to corporate and government secrets on its servers
have hampered its ability to enter the U.S. market.
American officials say the NSA spying is
for national security purposes only.
“We do not give intelligence we collect to
U.S. companies to enhance their international competitiveness or increase their
bottom line,” White House spokesperson Caitlin M. Hayden told the Times.
“Many countries cannot say the same.”
23/03/2014｜Martin
Pengelly |The Guardian
The National Security Agency created “back
doors” into networks maintained by the Chinese telecommunications company
Huawei, according to a report released on Saturday.
The report comes from a document provided
by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and disclosed by the
New York Times andDer
Spiegel. It will add to embarrassment in US government circles, in light of
an October 2012 US House of Representatives intelligence
committee report which said US firms should avoid doing business withHuawei
and another Chinese telecoms company, ZTE, because they posed a national
security threat.
President Barack Obama is scheduled to
meet Chinese president Xi Jinping in the Hague on Monday, during a
six-day trip to Europe in which he will attempt to strengthen international
opinion against Russia's occupation of Crimea. The first lady, Michelle Obama,
is currently in China with her mother and two daughters; on
Saturday she told an audience of students at Peking University's
Stanford Centre that web access should be “a universal right”.
On Saturday, William Plummer, Huawei's
vice-president of external affairs, said in an email to the Associated Press:
"Huawei has declared its willingness to work with governments, industry
stakeholders and customers in an open and transparent manner, to jointly address
the global challenges of network security and data integrity.
“The information presented in Der Spiegel
and the New York Times article reaffirms the need for all companies to be
vigilant at all times."
At the time of the 2012 House report's
release, intelligence
committee chairman Mike Rogers said in comments broadcast on the CBS
programme 60 Minutes: “Find another vendor [than Huawei] if you care about your
intellectual property; if you care about your consumers' privacy and you care
about the national security of the United States of America.”
In July 2013 Huawei rebutted such claims –
the former CIA director General Michael Hayden also said he believed the
company supplied information to the Chinese government – calling
them “racist”. The same month, the UK government opened
a review of the firm. In October 2013, the company's deputy chairman, Ken
Hu, denied
ever having been toldto spy on customers.
The Times and Spiegel reports said that in
an operation code-named Shotgiant, the NSA gained access to the company's
servers in Shenzhen, obtaining information and monitoring communications
between executives. Among those whose emails the NSA was able to read was the
president of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei.
Huawei, which maintains operations in the UK despite
all but ending its attempts to access the US market, due to government
resistance, claims to connect a third of the world's population. It is also the
world's third-largest maker of smartphones, after Apple and Samsung.
Saturday's reports quoted from the 2010
document: “Many of our targets communicate over Huawei-produced products. We
want to make sure that we know how to exploit these products.”
In response to previous stories derived
from documents obtained by Snowden and leaked to media outlets including the
Guardian last year, the US government has repeatedly said the NSA breaks into
foreign networks only for reasons of national security.
On Saturday an NSA spokeswoman, Caitlin
Hayden, told the Times: “We do not give intelligence we collect to US companies
to enhance their international competitiveness or increase their bottom line.
Many countries cannot say the same.”
The Times quoted Plummer as saying: “The
irony is that exactly what they are doing to us is what they have always
charged that the Chinese are doing through us.”
Security against cyber
warfare carried out by China is an increasing concern to the US. In
February 2013 a US security company said it had pinpointed the existence of a
unit within the People's Liberation Armyresponsible for a number of cyber
attacks against the US.
The Times also quoted James A Lewis, a
cyber security expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies,
who said: “China does more in terms of cyberespionage than all other countries
put together.”
22/03/2014｜By DAVID
E. SANGER and NICOLE PERLROTH|The New York Times
WASHINGTON — American officials have long
considered Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, a security threat,
blocking it from business deals in the United States for fear that the company
would create “back doors” in its equipment that could allow the Chinese
military or Beijing-backed hackers to steal corporate and government secrets.
But even as the United States made a public
case about the dangers of buying from Huawei, classified documents show that
the National Security
Agency was creating its own back doors — directly into Huawei’s
networks.
The agency pried its way into the servers
in Huawei’s sealed headquarters in Shenzhen, China’s industrial heart,
according to N.S.A. documents provided by the former contractor Edward J.
Snowden. It obtained information about the workings of the giant routers and
complex digital switches that Huawei boasts connect a third of the world’s
population, and monitored communications of the company’s top executives.
One of the goals of the operation,
code-named “Shotgiant,” was to find any links between Huawei and the People’s
Liberation Army, one 2010 document made clear. But the plans went further: to
exploit Huawei’s technology so that when the company sold equipment to other
countries — including both allies and nations that avoid buying American
products — the N.S.A. could roam through their computer and telephone networks
to conduct surveillance and, if ordered by the president, offensive
cyberoperations.
“Many of our targets communicate over
Huawei-produced products,” the N.S.A. document said. “We want to make sure that
we know how to exploit these products,” it added, to “gain access to networks
of interest” around the world.
The documents were disclosed by The New
York Times and Der Spiegel, and are also part of a
book by Der Spiegel, “The N.S.A. Complex.” The documents, as well as interviews
with intelligence officials, offer new insights into the United States’
escalating digital cold war with Beijing. While President Obama and China’s
president, Xi Jinping, have begun talks about limiting the cyber conflict, it
appears to be intensifying.
The N.S.A., for example, is tracking more
than 20 Chinese hacking groups — more than half of them Chinese Army and Navy
units — as they break into the networks of the United States government,
companies including Google, and drone and nuclear-weapon part makers, according
to a half-dozen current and former American officials.
If anything, they said, the pace has
increased since the revelation last year that some of the most aggressive
Chinese hacking originated at a People’s Liberation Army facility, Unit 61398, in Shanghai.
The Obama administration distinguishes
between the hacking and corporate theft that the Chinese conduct against
American companies to buttress their own state-run businesses, and the
intelligence operations that the United States conducts against Chinese and
other targets.
American officials have repeatedly said
that the N.S.A. breaks into foreign networks only for legitimate national
security purposes.
A White House spokeswoman, Caitlin M.
Hayden, said: “We do not give intelligence we collect to U.S. companies to
enhance their international competitiveness or increase their bottom line. Many
countries cannot say the same.”
But that does not mean the American
government does not conduct its own form of corporate espionage with a
different set of goals. Those concerning Huawei were described in the 2010
document.
“If
we can determine the company’s plans and intentions,” an analyst wrote, “we
hope that this will lead us back to the plans and intentions of the PRC,”
referring to the People’s Republic of China. The N.S.A. saw an additional
opportunity: As Huawei invested in new technology and laid undersea cables to
connect its $40 billion-a-year networking empire, the agency was interested in
tunneling into key Chinese customers, including “high priority targets — Iran,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kenya, Cuba.”
The documents offer no answer to a central
question: Is Huawei an independent company, as its leaders contend, or a front
for the People’s Liberation Army, as American officials suggest but have never
publicly proved?
Two years after Shotgiant became a major
program, the House Intelligence Committee delivered an unclassified report on
Huawei and another Chinese company, ZTE, that cited no evidence confirming the
suspicions about Chinese government ties. Still, the October 2012 report
concluded that the companies must be blocked from “acquisitions, takeover or
mergers” in the United States, and “cannot be trusted to be free of foreign
state influence.”
Huawei, which has all but given up its
hopes of entering the American market, complains that it is the victim of
protectionism, swathed in trumped-up national security concerns. Company
officials insist that it has no connection to the People’s Liberation Army.
William Plummer, a senior Huawei executive
in the United States, said the company had no idea it was an N.S.A. target,
adding that in his personal opinion, “The irony is that exactly what they are
doing to us is what they have always charged that the Chinese are doing through
us.”
“If such espionage has been truly
conducted,” Mr. Plummer added, “then it is known that the company is
independent and has no unusual ties to any government, and that knowledge
should be relayed publicly to put an end to an era of mis- and disinformation.”
Blocked at Every Turn
Washington’s concerns about Huawei date
back nearly a decade, since the RAND Corporation, the research organization,
evaluated the potential threat of China for the American military. RAND
concluded that “private Chinese companies such as Huawei” were part of a new
“digital triangle” of companies, institutes and government agencies that worked
together secretly.
Huawei is a global giant: it manufactures
equipment that makes up the backbone of the Internet, lays submarine cables
from Asia to Africa and has become the world’s third largest smartphone maker
after Samsung and Apple.
The man behind its strategy is Ren
Zhengfei, the company’s elusive founder, who was a P.L.A. engineer in the
1970s. To the Chinese, he is something akin to Steve Jobs — an entrepreneur who
started a digital empire with little more than $3,000 in the mid-1980s, and
took on both state-owned companies and foreign competitors. But to American
officials, he is a link to the People’s Liberation Army.
They have blocked his company at every
turn: pressing Sprint to kill a $3 billion deal to buy Huawei’s fourth
generation, or 4G, network technology; scuttling a planned purchase of 3Com for
fear that Huawei would alter computer code sold to the United States military;
and pushing allies, like Australia, to back off from major projects.
As long ago as 2007, the N.S.A. began a
covert program against Huawei, the documents show. By 2010, the agency’s
Tailored Access Operations unit — which breaks into hard-to-access networks —
found a way into Huawei’s headquarters. The agency collected Mr. Ren’s
communications, one document noted, though analysts feared they might be
missing many of them.
N.S.A. analysts made clear that they were
looking for more than just “signals intelligence” about the company and its
connections to Chinese leaders; they wanted to learn how to pierce its systems
so that when adversaries and allies bought Huawei equipment, the United States
would be plugged into those networks. (The Times withheld technical details of
the operation at the request of the Obama administration, which cited national
security concerns.)
The N.S.A.’s operations against China do
not stop at Huawei. Last year, the agency cracked two of China’s biggest
cellphone networks, allowing it to track strategically important Chinese
military units, according to an April 2013 document leaked by Mr. Snowden.
Other major targets, the document said, are the locations where the Chinese
leadership works. The country’s leaders, like everyone else, are constantly
upgrading to better, faster Wi-Fi — and the N.S.A. is constantly finding new
ways in.
Hack Attacks Accelerate
Chinese state attacks have only accelerated
in recent years, according to the current and former intelligence officials,
who spoke on condition of anonymity about classified information.
A dozen P.L.A. military units — aside from
Unit 61398 — do their hacking from eavesdropping posts around China, and though
their targets were initially government agencies and foreign ministries around
the world, they have since expanded into the private sector. For example,
officials point to the First Bureau of the army’s Third Department, which the
N.S.A. began tracking in 2004 after it hacked into the Pentagon’s networks. The
unit’s targets have grown to include telecom and technology companies that
specialize in networking and encryption equipment — including some Huawei
competitors.
For some of its most audacious attacks,
China relies on hackers at state-funded universities and privately owned
Chinese technology companies, apparently as much for their skills as for the
plausible deniability it offers the state if it gets caught. The N.S.A. is
tracking more than half a dozen such groups suspected of operating at the
behest of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, China’s civilian spy agency,
the officials said.
Their targets, they noted, closely align
with China’s stated economic and strategic directives. As China strove to
develop drones and next-generation ballistic and submarine-launched missiles in
recent years, the N.S.A. and its partners watched as one group of privately
employed engineers based in Guangzhou in southern China pilfered the blueprints
to missile, satellite, space, and nuclear propulsion technology from businesses
in the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia and Africa.
CONTINUE READING THE MAIN STORY175COMMENTS
And as China strove to make its own inroads
on the web, officials said another group of private hackers infiltrated Google,
Adobe and dozens of other global technology companies in 2010. Lately, the
officials said, that group and its counterparts are also going after security
firms, banks, chemical companies, automakers and even nongovernment
organizations.
“China does more in terms of
cyberespionage than all other countries put together,” said James A. Lewis, a
computer security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
in Washington.
“The question is no longer which
industries China is hacking into,” he added. “It’s which industries they aren’t
hacking into.”
