A lead item on "Japan Today" news media .. "China suspected of stealing new Australian spy agency blueprints"
<http://www.japantoday.com/category/world/view/china-suspected-of-stealing- new-australian-spy-agency-blueprints> SYDNEY Foreign Minister Bob Carr Tuesday insisted ties with China would not be hurt by a report that Chinese hackers have stolen top secret blueprints to Australias new intelligence agency headquarters. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the documents taken in the cyber hit included cabling layouts for the huge buildings security and communications systems, its floor plan, and its server locations. Carr said the government was very alive to the threat of cyber attacks on national security, adding that nothing that is being speculated about takes us by surprise. But he refused to confirm or deny China was behind the attack. I wont comment on whether the Chinese have done what is being alleged or not, he said. I wont comment on matters of intelligence and security for the obvious reason: we dont want to share with the world and potential aggressors what we know about what they might be doing, and how they might be doing it. While Australia has a long-standing military alliance with the United States, China is its largest trading partner and the two countries have been forging closer ties. Carr said the relationship would not be damaged by the report, which follows several other hacking attacks on government facilities in the past two years. Its got absolutely no implications for a strategic partnership, he said. We have enormous areas of cooperation with China. The state broadcasters investigative Four Corners program said the attack on a contractor involved with building the new Canberra headquarters of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization was traced to a server in China. It cited security experts as saying the theft exposed the agency to being spied on and may be responsible for a cost blowout and delays to the opening of the building, which was supposed to be operational last month. Des Ball, from the Australian National Universitys Strategic and Defense Studies Center, said the blueprints would show which rooms were likely to be used for sensitive conversations, and how to put devices into the walls. Once you get those building plans you can start constructing your own wiring diagrams, where the linkages are through telephone connections, through Wi-Fi connections, he was quoted as saying. The report, which did not say when the alleged theft took place, comes amid deepening concern about aggressive state-sponsored hacking by China. In 2011, the computers of Australias prime minister, foreign minister and defense minister were all suspected of being hacked, with the attacks reportedly originating in China. At the time, Canberra said cyber attacks had become so frequent that government and private networks were under continuous threat. Beijing dismissed the allegations as groundless and made out of ulterior purposes. Earlier this year, computer networks at the Reserve Bank of Australia were hacked, with some said to be infected by Chinese-developed malware searching for sensitive information. This followed Chinese telecoms giant Huawei being barred in 2012 from bidding for contracts on Australias ambitious A$36 billion broadband rollout due to fears of cyber attacks. © 2013 AFP Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server
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