Analysts dismiss 'cyber spy' claims

Top analysts² yesterday refuted claims by researchers hired by the Dalai Lama that China runs a cyper spy network, branding them "exaggerated" and an attempt to paint the nation as a "threat".

China was accused of using malicious³ software to infiltrate⁴ and take control of almost 1,300 computers in 103 countries, including those used in several foreign ministries⁵, embassies and the private office of the exiled Tibetan politician.

"This is purely⁶ another political issue the West is trying to exaggerate," said Song Xiaojun, a Beijing-based strategy and military analyst¹. "As China grows, some in the West are trying every opportunity to manufacture fears over China's threat."

The claims were made in The Snooping Dragon: Social Malware Surveillance of the Tibetan Movement, a report released by the Information Warfare⁷ Monitor. The Monitor is made up of researchers from an Ottawa-based think tank and the University of Toronto, reported the New York Times.

The researchers, who were commissioned by the Dalai Lama to examine its computers for signs of bugging⁸, said they had found the foreign ministries of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and Bhutan had been targeted.

"Cyber security has been a global issue, but this time those who see China as an emerging threat again have picked up the subject as a new weapon," Zhu Feng, a professor with the school of international studies at Peking University, said.

Questions:

1. How many computers were alleged⁹ to have been bugged¹⁰ with ‘malicious spyware’?

2. What Canadian university is part of the Information Warfare Monitor?

3. Name four other foreign ministries whose computers were said to have been targeted.

Answers:

1. 1,300.

2. The University of Toronto.

3. Any four of the following: of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and Bhutan.