Expert says Chinese government likely behind massive cyberattacks

The Chinese government is likely behind recent cyberattacks on U.S. government Web sites and on U.S. companies in an apparent effort to quash criticism of the government there, an expert on U.S. and Chinese relations said.

There's no conclusive proof that recent attacks on Google and dozens of other U.S. companies are directed by the Chinese government, but logic would point to official Chinese involvement, said Larry Wortzel, a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and a former U.S. Army counterintelligence officer. Google complained in January that it and several other U.S. companies were victims of recent cyberattacks coming from inside China. It is "not clear" who ordered the attacks, but it appears the Chinese government was involved, said Wortzel, who has served in the U.S. embassy in China. There is a group of skilled hackers in China that routinely attacks systems to spy on political dissidents, said Wortzel, speaking during a U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. Chinese government agencies and Communist Party organizations would be the likely recipients of information obtained by hackers, he said.