China has even gone so far as to accuse the United States National Security Agency (NSA) of planning and executing cyberattacks. These “advanced” attacks occurred during the Asian Winter Games in February. Both of these operations have specifically targeted critical information infrastructure. This even includes the registration system for the games themselves, which had personal identifying information of all the personnel taking part in the event.
The cyberattacks are reported to have reached their crescendo on February 3, the same day as that opening ice hockey game. According to media reports, the NSA’s goal was to collect the personal data of every Olympic athlete who would be participating in the games. They used high-falutin’ strategies to carry out their business. This meant buying IP addresses from other countries to obscure their operations and renting thousands of anonymizing network servers across Europe and Asia.
Local authorities in Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang province in northeastern China, have put NSA agents Katheryn A. Wilson, Robert J. Snelling and Stephen W. Johnson on a wanted list. This decision comes after complaints from watchdogs, journalists, and advocates about their work. The Harbin city public security bureau stated, “The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) launched cyber attacks against important industries such as energy, transportation, water conservancy, communications, and national defence research institutions in Heilongjiang province.”
The allegations extend beyond mere cyber espionage. For its part, China claims that these attacks formed the basis of an overall strategy to disrupt its critical information infrastructure. An unnamed Chinese government source claimed that the attacks aimed “at sabotaging China’s critical information infrastructure, causing social disorder, and stealing important confidential information.”
China’s foreign ministry confirmed the incidents and expressed serious concerns over the NSA’s actions. Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the ministry, stated:
“We urge the U.S. to take a responsible attitude on the issue of cyber security and … stop unprovoked smears and attacks on China.”
Now, the University of California and Virginia Tech are entangled in these aggressive cyber operations. This begs the question of whether there is collusion between research universities and federal agencies. Sources suggest that specific pre-installed backdoors in Microsoft Windows operating systems on devices located in Heilongjiang were activated during these attacks.
The U.S. Embassy in China did not reply to an emailed inquiry for comment about these claims. The mishap has further escalated tensions between the two countries. This is all happening in the context of a tit-for-tat trade war, with both sides currently engaged in a deepening economic and diplomatic battle.
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