For a period of several months, hackers from a number of locations in China looked for ways to gain entry to the Pentagon system, and finally was able to breach its defenses. According to American officials it's the most successful cyber attack ever on the US defense department.
Officials added there was no doubt that the source of the attack was from the People's Liberation Army.
While this is probably a continuing cat and mouse game between countries, it's of higher concern because China has shown it can cause disruption of the network at times that may be of critical importance.
“The PLA has demonstrated the ability to conduct attacks that disable our system...and the ability in a conflict situation to re-enter and disrupt on a very large scale,” said a former official.
Former deputy defense secretary John Hamre, who has been involved with cyber security, said there have been known attacks by criminals who can mask cyber attacks to make it look like they're comming from foreign government computers.
Even so, it seems in this case it's close to a certainty it originated from the PLA.
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