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Confirmed: China Attempted to Infiltrate White House Network That Includes Nuclear Commands

Oct. 1, 2012 9:10am Liz Klimas

White House Confirms Chinas Attempted Attack on an Unclassified Part of its Military Office Network System

The White House Military Office experienced an attempted hack from the Chinese, which has been confirmed by officials but no information compromised from the unclassified network. (Image: Wikimedia)

An unnamed White House official, the Washington Free Beacon reports, revealed hackers from China attempted to infiltrate a sensitive but unclassified network that includes the United States government’s nuclear command system earlier this month. Not only that but the official said the type of attack experienced by the system is not considered infrequent.

Politico reported Monday morning the White House confirming the attack.

The Free Beacon reports a national security official saying it was a spear phishing attack, which uses malicious emails to try to gain information leading the hacker into a system, against White House Military Office. The Free Beacon describes it as “one of the most brazen cyber attacks against the United States.” The official interviewed by the Free Beacon assured them though that the attempted breach did not impact classified parts of the system:

“In this instance the attack was identified, the system was isolated, and there is no indication whatsoever that any exfiltration of data took place,” the official said.

Politico reported a White House official re-affirming that none of the systems were actually compromised and no information was stolen. Politico also describes the White House as seeking to “downplay” the report by the Free Beacon.

Business Insider also points out that a phishing attack is not really a “hack” as it uses an email to trick the recipient into providing information that could lead directly into a system. It also states that given that the network in the attempted hack was unclassified, it is “probably not as bad as it sounds.” Parts of the system including nuclear commands would be considered classified and encrypted.

Still, the Free Beacon includes another unnamed source, which it describes as a “former senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the work of the office,” saying that given this attack was on “the most sensitive office in the U.S. government” a breach of the system could “cause grave strategic damage to the United States.”

The Free Beacon also takes the story to security experts who were named on the record but were unaware of the incident:

Former McAffee cyber threat researcher Dmitri Alperovitch said he was unaware of the incident, but noted: “I can tell you that the Chinese have an aggressive goal to infiltrate all levels of U.S. government and private sector networks.”

“The White House network would be the crown jewel of that campaign so it is hardly surprising that they would try their hardest to compromise it,” said Alperovictch, now with the firm Crowdstrike.

As Alperovictch pointed out, this is not the first time the Chinese have been blamed for breaches in the United States. Last year, TheBlaze reported 49 chemical and defense companies had seen attacks on their system from China. Security analysts said last year that hacks from China can be tracked back to 12 groups backed its government. TheBlaze has also reported about the Chinese hacking into NASA’s system and taking control, for a short time, of its Jet Propulsion Lab.

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Comments (65)

Meyvn1
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 11:53am
A black eye for Federal IT.

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- turkey13
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 3:24pm
  Te Chineese should get a union stewerd and file a greivance. They had to go to all this effort while Obama gave free axcess to the Muslim Brotherhood.
  
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- SCREW-WINDOWS
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 8:13pm
  Hey China owns those computers so they should have a right to access them.
  
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noslave
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 11:40am
it all started with the clintons re-election white house garage sale??remember the chinese doners??the misplaced fbi files on hillarys nite-stand??this is NOT ALL A COINCIDENCE??we were being slowly sold down the river??now hillarys the “SECRETARY OF SELL OUTS”??4 dead in libya yet no one knows anything?does anyone get the feeling were being slowly moved closer to communism rule with these mutts in charge??

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budzy1911
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 11:21am
Seems to me it would be easier to ask the Bamster. Obviously he would just and them over, bow and then apologize for not doing it sooner.

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Diego Roswell
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 11:19am
This president will never give up his power without some kind of fight, riots, national emergency, FEMA, etc. The election is just a catalyst for the leftists in the “dark blue” states to strike and riot. You cannot stop the decline and ultimate Balkanization that will follow the demise of these United States, only prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Brought to you by the lazy incompetent life term elected representatives and their “useful idiot” constituents.

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- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 11:26am
  I agree. Prepare your family now – Food, Survival , Defending the US Constitution. Have a plan. Organize now! Don’t become a subject of Communist obama and his Comrades.
  
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AnotherPaulian
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 11:15am
This is what governments do. There are as many u. s. hack attempts on Chinese government as Chinese hack attempts on u. s. government.

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Wiseone1w
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:54am
MAYBE it is time to start buying American again? Just think about this for a minute, if we were all willing to spend a few more dollars to buy stuff made in this country, instead of by Chinese slave labor, China would lose its largest export market and millions of jobs would come home. Moreover, we would all get vastly better quality for the money. Seriously, is it so hard to look for the made in America tag?

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- Detroit paperboy
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 11:13am
  All they had to do was ask Odumbass for the info, he woulda handed it right over……………
  
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- SCREW-WINDOWS
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 8:15pm
  Could you afford a union made computer ?
  
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PointBreak
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:52am
No kidding – they make all of our electronics. Don’t think for a second that they don’t have a backdoor built into all of that stuff and the second a war breaks out all of our systems are going to mysteriously fail. Don’t believe me? Google the F22 fiasco.

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CNCFan
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:34am
Makes you wonder why we still give them foreign aid. Not much but 1 cent is too much IMO.

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- hold_my_stones
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:59am
  Alot of damage has been done in the last 3 & 2/3′s year & more to come if the lemmings don’t awaken.
  
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stotlaat
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:33am
Unreported: hackers have been in control of all the teleprompters

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Netizen Kane
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:30am
Why all the trouble? Just call 202-456-1414 and ask for Obama. He’ll hook you guys up….

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zoro51
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:29am
Thats it impeach iobama now end this **** impeach n throw out of the usa now impeach impeach impeach impeach remover obama now

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title_of_liberty
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:01am
And why are we friends with China? They’re just as much of a threat as the Soviets were. They are not our friends. we should cut all debt to China, take away MFN status, and instead of buying from them buy from Latin America. It would seriously improv national security.

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- woodyee
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:15am
  correction – “as the Soviets are.” They’ve gone nowhere, only changed their name. Ask Putin…
  
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- title_of_liberty
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:32am
  Sorry I meant “improve.” It’s true though, China is not our friend. And a prosperous Latin America would be good in many ways. There would be fewer illegal immigrants because they have a chance at home. The drug cartels would be weaker because people would have more options for honest work, their police forces would be better funded, and an increased percentage of the drugs would be sold down there instead of up here; so they would better see the results of it. And finally the governments down there would more stable, without more juntas popping up all the time.
  
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- title_of_liberty
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:36am
  @woodyee You’re right the Russians are not our friends either.
  
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- kadster01
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:36am
  “And why are we friends with China?” – Liberty
  
  Why did we arm and train bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, and Manuel Noriega (to name a few)? Range of the moment, pragmatic “usefulness.” In other words, the end justifies the means. China is the single largest holder of US debt. How do we go about cutting it now that we’re in bed with the enemy….again?
  
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- title_of_liberty
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:57am
  @kadster01 Actually, believe it or not, the U.S. government is the largest holder of U.S. debt at 6.3 trillion. The federal reserve alone holds 1.6 trillon. Idiotic, I know. China is the single largest foreign holder of U.S. debt at a mere 1.1 trillion. And we simply refuse to pay that 1.1 trillion. I got my numbers from this site:
  http://exploredia.com/who-owns-u-s-debt-2012/
  
  Report this comment
- woodyee
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 11:08am
  I like the way you write, Title often including links. I’m in my 60′s, and wise enough to know I still have things to learn – thanks!
  
  Report this comment
- kadster01
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 11:09am
  @LIBERTY
  
  You’re right, I meant to say the largest foreign holder of US debt.
  
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Alternative_Thought
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:00am
Can’t be any worse than having muslims in office.

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thibx
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:57am
i don’t know they would do that all they have to do is ask oboma and he will give it to them.

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BubbaJohnson
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:46am
Well stated DTom.

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omgfolks
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:46am
In this day and age of electronics it is harder and harder to keep any secrets, it seems everyday someone is hacked into whether citizen or goverment and what one considers classified is no longer safe. Our Goverment entrusted with keeping America Safe needs to correct these openings and quick, It is no Obamas fault no more that it will be Romneys fault if he wins in November, it is however HIS RESPONSIBILITY to ensure steps are taken to prevent this from happening. GOVERMENT IS TO DAMN BIG and as such creates a situation of grave national importance, not just with the deficit. When you have so many people involved someone is going to leak, forget or otherwise screw up which will allow villians to move forward. China has been seeking info for years , this is not new, We need this STOP NOW.

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- SCREW-WINDOWS
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 8:23pm
  Technology is a bitch there’s always someone better.
  
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Tigress1
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:45am
Call me “old-fashioned” if you want, but stories like this one make me hope that our super-secret stuff is written on good old paper instead of being stored in computers. If it’s on paper then the bad-guys would have to rely on spies that would have to either be double-agents or be able to physically sneak in the building to steal the information.

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- woodyee
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 10:13am
  Ah, Tigress, they could just be passed from one hand to another, or we can always allow the technology* to accidentally crash at a Chinese-controlled launch site, or we can let the Chinese force some of that technology* onto an obscure island and keep it for weeks, or we can just give Loral Corporation to help the Chinese develop the technology*…just ask Bill Clinton.
  
  * Feel free to replace “technology” with “nat’l security secrets”…
  
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BODYBAG
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:45am
Barry’s mission almost complete.

FISCAL NIGHTMARE MEANS USA COULD BE TAKEN OVER
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/81850.html

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- loriann12
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:54am
  I was thinking, you mean O didn’t just give it to them?
  
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Zipit
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:41am
The Obama administration should handle this situation just as Al Gore and Bill Clinton did! Simply walk out the front door of the White House and Hand the Chinese whatever technology they desire!!!!! Who will hold them responsible? Might be worth some big campaign $$$.

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woodyee
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:38am
“In this instance the attack was identified, the system was isolated, and there is no indication whatsoever that any exfiltration of data took place,” the official said.”

Translation – “In this instance, out of MANY instances, they got a boatload of info, but we’re too close to Nov. 6 to let THIS cat out of the bag.

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- johnjamison
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:43am
  F the White House and the opressors that occupy it . Our government is becoming an enemy of the tax payers and the Constitution if China is attack our enemy that would make China our friend at lea a limited measure.
  
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- SCREW-WINDOWS
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 8:28pm
  I wonder what antivirus they depend on possibly a foreign source.
  
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dublinthewagons
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:34am
Why on earth would china go to all this trouble?just pick up the phone and call Obama. He’ll tell them what they want to know.
For a $5 campaign contribution. He ain’t free just cheap

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term limits for congress
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:32am
The Chinese have no need to hack. I am sure they have valid user credentials that allow them access to anything they want.

For any business (or government), sensitive systems should not be exposed to public networks.

Our govt outsources software development and maintenance to “US” companies, who then out-source it to Indonesia, Pakistan, and India (among others). Do you really think it is a stretch that a programmer could leave themselves backdoor access?

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- SCREW-WINDOWS
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 8:31pm
  You don’t have to be on any network all you need is for the computer to be plugged into a power outlet.
  Best to unplug after use.
  
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DTOM_Jericho (Creator vindicator)
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:28am
Funny. Obama wants gun control and we get shootings with “lone gunmen” even though witnesses report multiple gunmen. A college kid that can’t focus during arraignment was able to acquire tear gas canisters? Now Obama and his puppet masters are trying to use executive orders to pass laws that couldn’t make it through congress on internet security. Suddenly we are “hacked”? There is no such thing as an “executive order” for passing laws by any president. These are false flags by a false dictator. They all need fired and jailed. Not voted out; removed from office! According to the Declaration of Independence it is our duty to do so.

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- msconstrue
  Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:59am
  there is always a pattern if you take the time to look……nothing is ever a coincedence!
  
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flatdaddio
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:28am
the silent majority will vote obama out in November, then we can correct this…

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Thighmaster
Posted on October 1, 2012 at 9:15am
In this new age of electronics maybe we need to revamp our requirements for acts of war…

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