White House e-mail 'attacks' actually came from China, officials say
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Reports last week of alleged White House e-mails involved in a cyberattack in the United Kingdom are receding, but even so, diplomats abroad are calling for more global protocols for cyber activity.
A cyberattack targeting British officials, which at first appeared to be carried in White House e-mails, actually originated in China, with the perpetrator using a hoax e-mail address that resembled a White House account, officials in the United Kingdom said. Nevertheless, the U.K. officials are using the opportunity to call for more cooperation among governments to jointly agree on policies for state-based covert cyber activity.
The initial reports on Feb. 4 from British Foreign Secretary William Hague indicated that e-mail messages alleged to be from the White House were sent to several British officials in late December. The e-mails contained links that, if opened, would download a virus onto the user’s computer.
It was first unclear if the attack came from authentic White House e-mail accounts that had been hacked and infected with a virus or from fake e-mail accounts made to resemble White House e-mail messages. In recent days, the latter scenario appears the more likely.
According to several news accounts, Hague referred to “spoof” White House e-mail accounts, suggesting that the messages were not authentic.
Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that the cyberattack is now believed to have originated in China.
Although the foreign secretary did not name the country behind the attacks, intelligence sources familiar with the incidents made it clear the originating country was China, the Guardian said in an article Feb. 4.
"In late December a spoof e-mail purporting to be from the White House was sent to a large number of international recipients who were directed to click on a link that then downloaded a variant of Zeus," Hague said, according to the article. "The U.K. government was targeted in this attack and a large number of e-mails bypassed some of our filters. Our experts were able to clear up the infection, but more sophisticated attacks such as these are becoming more common."
On Feb. 6, in a subsequent article in the Guardian, Hague indicated that more international agreement is needed for state-based covert cyber activity. The article suggested that the United States may be involved in such activity.