Monday, May 18, 2009

China deploys secure computer operating system


China has installed a secure operating system known as "Kylin" on government and military computers designed to be impenetrable to US military and intelligence agencies, The Washington Times reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper said the existence of the secure operating system was disclosed to Congress during recent hearings which included new details on how China's government is preparing to wage cyberwarfare with the United States.

Kevin Coleman, a private security specialist who discussed Kylin during the April 30 hearing of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said its deployment is significant because it has "hardened" key Chinese servers.


"This action also made our offensive cybercapabilities ineffective against them, given the cyberweapons were designed to be used against Linux, UNIX and Windows" [snip]

Coleman said Chinese state or state-affiliated entities are on a wartime footing in seeking electronic information from the US government, contractors and industrial computer networks.

The Chinese have also developed a secure microprocessor that, unlike US-made chips, is known to be hardened against external access by a hacker or automated malicious software, Coleman said.

"If you add a hardened microchip and a hardened operating system, that makes a really good solid platform for defending infrastructure ... In the cyberarena, China is playing chess while we're playing checkers"

[I.e., our assumed supercity and/or naivety re: our enemies' intentions will be our ruin, as we again chose to ignore all evidence of a coming war and prepare. Recommended > ]

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