Chinese Technician Denies Knowledge of Hacking

Source: Wall Street Journal By James T. Areddy Photo: Reuters

SHANGHAIA Chinese technician identified by U.S. Internet security company McAfee Inc. as a conduit to the alleged hacking of the computer files of major energy companies on Friday denied all knowledge of the case.

"What? You sure it's my company?" Song Zhiyue, a technician for website hosting company Science & Technology Internet in northeastern Shandong province, said by telephone. He added that he has "no idea at all about hacking attacks on U.S. oil companies."

In a 19-page report Thursday, McAfee alleged that hackers believed to be in China have conducted "coordinated, covert and targeted" espionage against major Western energy firms starting as early as 2007. McAfee dubbed the campaign "Night Dragon."

McAfee didn't identify Mr. Song by name in the report, but according to The Wall Street Journal, the company said it had used forensic evidence to identify him as the provider of external servers used in a series of attacks on oil companies. The company said it was unclear how aware Mr. Song may have been of the activity.

"While we believe many actors have participated in these attacks, we have been able to identify one individual who has provided the crucial (command and control) infrastructure to the attackersthis individual is based in Heze City, Shandong Province, China," McAfee's report said. "Although we don't believe this individual is the mastermind behind these attacks, it is likely this person is aware or has inform! ation th at can help identify at least some of the individuals, groups, or organizations responsible for these intrusions."

McAfee didn't name the Western oil companies it said were attacked.

Its allegations are the latest to suggest that hackers in China formulate attacks by assembling lines of code, or "tools," that are widely for sale on Internet forums and are innocuous by themselves. When bundled in the right way, the tools can break into computers to steal information or disrupt activity.

Beijing has announced the closure of several such forums but hackers say they have many places to trade the tools. "The attackers employed hacking tools of Chinese origin and that are prevalent on Chinese underground hacking forums," McAfee said.

In the brief telephone interview Friday, Mr. Song noted that identifying information about him on the Internet, for instance his registration of other websites, is in some cases out of date.

Science & Technology Internet has around 20 employees and was established in 2008, said a saleswoman there who also said she was unaware of the allegations. The company's Chinese-language website, www.kjhl.net, lists a range of services including Internet domain name sales, webpage hosting and storage services.

On Thursday, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ma Zhaoxu, told Dow Jones Newswires in response to McAfee's allegations that "I'm not aware of the information, but as for these types of reports, we see them quite often."

The Journal said law-enforcement agencies are investigating the incidents.

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