Chinese Hackers Seen Exploiting Cloud to Spy on US

China-based hackers may target Internet-based e-mail, data storage and other services provided overseas by such companies as Microsoft to spy on the US, a congressional commission found. The Chinese government wages “a large-scale cyber espionage campaign” and “has successfully targeted the networks of US government and private organizations,” the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission concludes in its annual report to Congress.

The commission for the first time said cloud computing, which connects Internet services, “represents a potential espionage threat.” The report fails to cite any examples of the Chinese government using the technology in attacks. “Our focus has been on making sure that Defense Department or State Department data, or other government information, is secure,” William Reinsch, chairman of the commission, told reporters before the report’s release. “To the extent those entities use the cloud as well, we think that they need to get a better grip on who’s actually providing their services and where their data is going.” Daniel Castro, a senior analyst for the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington research institution, said the commission’s report could damage a growing industry in China. It feeds this narrative that is incorrect that security is based on where you store data. It’s not,” Castro said in a phone interview. “It’s based on the security protocols that you have in place.”