China 'hijacks' Internet for 18 minutes, US gov't says

Not clear if data was collected or if attack was intentional, but assault may have functioned as smokescreen to conceal more directed attack.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
google china 311 (photo credit: AP)
google china 311
(photo credit: AP)
A US government report released Wednesday said that China "hijacked" and routed through their own servers, highly sensitive government and military websites earlier this year, AFP reported.
According to the report, the Asian giant hijacked 15 percent of the world's Internet traffic for 18 minutes this past April.
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The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission report said that the 18-minute attack "could enable severe malicious activities" by the Chinese government, who owns the telecom company that staged the attack.
Meanwhile, China Telecom, the state-owned company involved, "denied any hijack of Internet traffic," AFP reported. The Chinese foreign ministry declined to comment.
It was not clear whether data was collected or even if the attack was intentional, the report said, but it did say that the massive amount of redirected data could have functioned as a smokescreen to conceal a more directed attack.