CIA 'black bag' operations hacked Chinese computers: report

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-07-24

No computer is safe from the CIA's remote and manual hacking.
(File photo/CFP)

The United States government has been conducting highly classified "black bag" operations to manually hack into computers and servers in China, according to the Washington DC-based Foreign Policy magazine.

The July 17 article alleges that the CIA, in concert with the secretive National Security Agency, has been carrying out what is referred to as "black bag" operations around the world when they cannot hack into a computer or server remotely.

In such an operation, a crack CIA team would break into the target's premises and do things such as install spyware, bug phones, hack data switching centers, and copy backup files and disks, the report said.

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the CIA developed a series of hacking tools that can allow the US government to easily override commercial computer software, clone mobile phone data and retrieve communication records in other countries, meaning black bag operations have become necessary generally only in regions where the US does not have an embassy, such as Iran or North Korea. US embassies in many Middle Eastern countries, for example, already have signal monitoring stations that can eavesdrop on all telecommunication signals within a 100 mile radius, according to the report.

Over the past 10 years, black bag operations have taken place in the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia, especially in China, the report added.

Spying and hacking activities by the US government has always been a sensitive topic, though this is not stopped the CIA from expanding its toolkit in a post 9/11 world. Last month, ex-CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden also lifted the lid on the NSA's Prism telephone and internet surveillance program, which has further placed scrutiny on US hacking activities both domestically and abroad.

Legislation to give US telecommunications giant Verizon Communications and Google legal protection for sharing cyber-attack information with the US government has stalled after Snowden's revelations, which revealed that the companies are already turning over private user data.