China: Hack, Hack, Hack

From MIT Technology Review, Chinese Hacking and Cyber Spying Group APT1 Exposed by Mandiant Likely Still Active Despite Report on Its Stealing Secrets from U.S. Companies

The computer hacking group accused last week of being part of a specific unit of the Chinese military is apparently unfazed by the public attention triggered by a detailed report on its activities published by the security firm Mandiant. Another researcher tracking the group says that most of the infrastructure it had in place to carry out attacks remains in place.

You can get a copy of the Mandiant report here.

There's a reason we have a Cyber Command.

Hack, Hack, Hack.

When does it become an attack? You might find the legal concepts expressed in The Talinn Manual of interest.

My thanks to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence for putting it on-line and making it available. You should be aware of their disclaimer:

The Tallinn Manual is not an official document, but instead an expression of opinions of a group of independent experts acting solely in their personal capacity. It does not represent the views of the Centre, our Sponsoring Nations, or NATO. It is also not meant to reflect NATO doctrine. Nor does it reflect the position of any organization or State represented by observers.

The CCDC COE also links to the U.S. Naval War College International Law Department Chair Michael N. Schmitt's Harvard International Law Review article, International Law in Cyberspace: The Koh Speech and Tallinn Manual Juxtaposed, which is worth reading if you of a mind to read law review articles that actually say something, which is, sadly, very much a rarity.

The referenced Koh speech can be found on the U.S. Department of State website here.

Yeah, yeah, it's a discussion of international law . . . but it is kinda important.

And it is one of those areas where new ways of war are being looked at from lots of angles.

You can open The Talinn Manual by clicking here.