China counters German hackers and spying reports
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China rejected on Sunday a German  magazine report that computer hackers believed to be linked to  the Chinese army had infected German government ministries with  spying programs.
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(InfoWorld) - For months, German Interior Minister Wolfgang SchÃ¤uble has been lobbying intensively forÂ tough security measures to fight terrorismÂ and cybercrime. Now he's putting his words into action. Law enforcement officials in Germany and Austria are now among the first to have electronic access to each other's fingerprint databases, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior said Monday. Since 2006, the two countries have shared their DNA databases as one of several measures agreed by some European Union nations under the Treaty of PrÃ¼m in 2005. The treaty, which has meanwhile been signed by several E.U. member states, gives police and other security agencies in different countries unprecedentedÂ access to a range of individuals' personal data. During its E.U. presidency, Germany is trying to muster enough support to turn the Treaty of PrÃ¼m into E.U. law. Support for tough security measures has grown in Germany and other E.U. member states that worry about their national security being increasingly threatened by international terrorism, organized crime and, increasingly, cybercrime. Recently, the Baltic nation ofÂ Estonia suffered several weeks of DDOSÂ (distributed denial-of-service) attacks against government and private-sector Web sites. That DDOS attack sent a warning signal to governments across Europe. On Monday at an IT security conference hosted by the German Interior Ministry, SchÃ¤uble referred to information technology and communications infrastructures as "the nerve strands of society" and called on everyone -- governments, businesses and consumers -- to give IT security a top priority. Protecting critical infrastructure, including communication and energy grids, from cyberattacks is a key area of focus during the two-day conference. SchÃ¤uble is also determined to give the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) greater power to monitor terrorists and criminals online by allowing the agency to peek inside their computers. In an interview with the Berliner Zeitung published on Saturday, the minister said he aims to complete draft legislation over the next few weeks to allow the BKA to hack into the PCs of suspected criminals. This year Germany's High Court handed down a landmark decisionÂ banning police from installing spywareÂ on computers of suspected criminals without their knowledge. The High Court in Karlsruhe argued that searching computers is similar to searching homes, a practice in Germany that requires police to follow certain procedures, such as obtaining a search warrant and informing suspected offenders of a search. The judges also argued that hacking computers by the police is not permitted under Germany's strict phone-tapping laws and that legislation would be needed to enable covert surveillance. In the interview, SchÃ¤uble said he would amend Germany's constitutional law to allow online surveillance if the country's leading courts required such an amendment. In February, Germany passed a law allowing security officials to create the largest and most comprehensive pool of personal data ever amassed in the country. The databases of nearly 40 different agencies, including BKA and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), are now linked to allow authorities to run searches on suspected individuals and retrieve information within minutes. Â
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In recent weeks, China has been accused of hacking the Pentagon as well as British and German government offices.
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Leaked classified documents could point to a Skype and SSL intercepting system that could be launched in southern Germany next month.
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The German software company says an American subsidiaryâs actions were âinappropriateâ but contests a claim of espionage.
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China is once again being blamed for cyberattacks on a foreign country, with New Zealand secret service officials saying the Chinese were behind an attack on its systems.
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Its intelligence services are running wild in the U.S. and pilfering technology, according to a new counterintelligence exec on China. Is this the latest Bush fear-mongering? Plus: Bush board backs wiretaps. In 27B Stroke 6.
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Countries that are hackers' targets should work together, not blame each other, officials say.
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China and Russia are spying on the United States nearly as much as they did during the Cold War, according to the top U.S. intelligence official
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A highly sophisticated spying operation that tapped into the mobile phones of Greece&#39;s prime minister and other top government officials has highlighted weaknesses in telecommunications systems that still use decades-old computer code, according to a report by two computer scientists.
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A Chinese official on Thursday repeated China's denial that it has hacked into other countries' government and military computer networks.
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Fear of a Black Hat The German government this week published proposals to modernise the country's computer hacking laws.â¦
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Concern over Chinaâs use of surveillance technology  prompts new rules for U.S. exports.
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The great firewall of China often fails to block banned words finds a US study of its effectiveness.
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China's state-controlled media have warned citizens to raise their awareness and prevent leakage of state secrets, charging that illegal surveys by foreigners in the country were on the rise and threatening national security.
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As passports equipped with RFID chips are adopted more widely around the world, successful attempts to crack them are on the rise as well. Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. have already reported compromised data, but countries such as New Zealand remain unconcerned about such threats. But what if the goal wasn't data theft but detonation?
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China on Tuesday rejected a report that  hackers controlled by its military had successfully entered a  Pentagon network, calling the claim a product of &quot;Cold War&quot;  thinking.