Revealed: U.S. Navy Admiral’s Facebook Account Was Faked by Alleged Chinese Spy, NATO Officials Friended
- Posted on March 13, 2012 at 4:06pm by
Liz Klimas
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An impostor, allegedly from China, posed as U.S. Navy Admiral on Facebook, sneakily becoming friends with NATO officials to potentially glean sensitive information, according to the Telegraph.
The Telegraph reports that some members of the British military and Ministry of Defense accepted friend requests from American Admiral James Stavridis, who is the current Commander. It was recently revealed that the content on this Facebook page, all of which seemed legitimate, was “harvested” to create a profile that Stavridis never had in the first place.
Stavridis' new, official Facebook page. The faked profile has been removed.
The Telegraph has more on what is thought to be the work of a Chinese spy:
Nato officials are reluctant to say publicly wo was behind the attack. But the Sunday Telegraph has learned that in classified briefings, military officers and diplomats were told the evidence pointed to “state-sponsored individuals in China”.
Although they are unlikely to have found any genuine military secrets from the Facebook accounts they accessed , the incident is highly embarrassing.
[...]
Senior Nato staff were warned about the fake account late last year and made representations to Facebook.
It is understood that Facebook uses very sophisticated techniques to identify bogus accounts which, it says, have very different footprints to genuine Facebook users.
A spokesman said: “After the profile was reported to us, it was taken down as soon as we were notified and investigated the issue.”
Because Stavridis didn’t have his own Facebook page before this incident, the Telegraph reports that NATO is advising other officials to create pages to avoid a similar falsification in the future.
The Guardian reports a NATO spokesman as saying that the organization is frequently in contact with Facebook over fake profiles, which are removed within 24 to 48 hours. The official said NATO wants to make it clear, so the public isn’t misinformed, that the citizens can trust and have faith the policy announcements and other updates they see on the social media site. Stavridis, for example, used Facebook last year to announce that the conflict in Libya had ended.
Both the Guardian and Telegraph liken this attack to the “Night Dragon” attacks in 2011, which duped executives in oil and gas companies into disclosing sensitive information. The Telegraph goes on:
The attacks infiltrated the energy companies computer system and looked for how the firms operated.
[...]
The hackers were traced to China, to Beijing and investigators found the attacks only happened on week days between 9am and 5pm local time suggesting they were working at an office or a government facility.
Security expert Dmitri Alperovich, who helped uncover the “Night Dragon” breach, says Western businesses and Government are all routinely being targeted.
He said: “They will know your strategy, your price list, everything to undercut and beat you. The Chinese are using every trick in the book.
“They stole emails between executives about high level negotiations. They are stealing their negotiation playbook and then they outbid them. If they know your strategy they can’t lose.”
Recently, The Blaze reported on statement by the FBI director Robert Mueller who said that cyberattacks are becoming more concerning for the United States country — even more so traditional acts of terrorism. Mueller said there are two kinds of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be hacked. He states that the FBI has stepped up efforts to counter cyber-threats.
[H/T Gizmodo]
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Da Rue Stir
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 3:20amKlinton was the most successful spy (or dupe) the Ruskies & Chinese could have ever hoped for.
Report Post »And thanks to Jamie Gorlick’s email that prevented the DOD & FBI from investigating the Chinese donations to the DNC and later used to prevent the CIA & FBI from breaking up the 9/11 hijackers Klinton proved to be the mooslems radicals’ best friend.
Then they had the nerve to blame Conoleezza Rice & George Bush.
SpaceCoyote
Posted on March 14, 2012 at 1:24pmRediculous ! They in NATO were advised to create an account? A better way to avoid the problem would be that all senior staff are banned from using social media and instead use the DOD‘s or NATO’s e-mail.
Report Post »2conservative
Posted on March 14, 2012 at 8:32amDumb…what is an Admiral doing on Facebook??? Anything you EVER put up there or Twitter or any other social networking site NEVER GOES away..even if you delete it….
Report Post »Pigpen
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 11:58pmSilly Conservatives, the Cold War is OVER! The Nightly News SAID so! Stop trying to make trouble for the Red Chinese just because your Daddy told you it was your patriotic duty to hate commies! Don‘t you know that the Conservatives’ jingoism and constant sabre rattling FORCES China to spy on us? This isn’t evidence of a commie plot! This is all the insensitive paleo-conservatives fault!
I was a “Bircher” (John Birch that is) back before being a “Birther” was cool!
Report Post »SpeckledPup
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 9:52pmwhat in HolyGName is any AMERICAN official or politician doing on fully communist FACEBOOK?!?!??! how STUPID.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 7:44pmSun Tzu in the Art of War called such spies “hidden spies” who can masquerade as others while deep in enemy territory. One such agent can cause much harm.
Report Post »nzkiwi
Posted on March 14, 2012 at 4:09amThat book is well worth the read, isn’t it Snow.
Do you think that they are practising for something?
Report Post »sndrman
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 6:46pmcome on china needs not to do this all they have to do is ask this administration and it will be given…..wonder who was the highest bidder on the drone that iran got.putin’s russia or china? klinton and o’kenyan are not taking china or russia serious,he is busy dismantling AMERICA……
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