India v China

Some of you may remember my "X vs China" series of posts of 2007, where I discussed multiple high profile cases where various nations noted their disapproval of China's exploitation of their networks. (That's right, 2007 -- three years before the January festivities.) This morning I read Hostile nations trying to steal India's defence secrets, by Rajit Pandit of India's Economic Times. He writes:

Even as Chinese and Pakistani online espionage agents continue their attempts to hack into Indian computer systems, hostile intelligence agencies are also trying to steal defence secrets through use of computer storage media (CSM) devices like pen drives, removable hard disks, CDs, VCDs and the like.

The Intelligence Bureau has sounded a red alert about "intelligence officers of a hostile country'' encouraging their "assets'' working in Indian defence establishments to use CSM devices to pilfer classified information from computer networks...

This comes even as the Army is conducting a court of inquiry against a major posted in the strategically-located Andaman and Nicobar Command, who had stored over 2,000 classified and sensitive documents on his personal computer which was "hacked'' from Pakistan earlier this year...

With cyber-warfare being a top military priority for China, its online espionage agents frequently break into sensitive Indian computer networks.

This story is interesting for two reasons. First, it cites an Indian example of the the risks of personnel with access to classified documents and storage media, similar to the Manning and Wikileaks cases. Second, like the recent Economist magazine discussing the relationship between China and India, it reminds me that China is not just targeting established powers. China is also targeting other rising powers. It would be interesting to research Russia v China or Brazil v China scenarios. Maybe Jeff Carr will post something? (hint)

Tweet