US report blasts China, Russia for cybercrime

Associated Press, Washington | Fri, 11/04/2011 11:30 AM

U.S. intelligence officials accused China and Russia of systematically stealing American high-tech data for their national economic gain.

It was the most forceful and detailed public airing of U.S. allegations after years of private complaints. U.S. officials and cybersecurity experts said the U.S. must openly confront China and Russia in a broad diplomatic push to combat cyberattacks that are on the rise and represent a "persistent threat to U.S. economic security."

Experts said Thursday that solving the problem will not be easy.

In a report released Thursday, U.S. intelligence agencies said "the governments of China and Russia will remain aggressive and capable collectors of sensitive U.S. economic information and technologies, particularly in cyberspace."

Speaking at a forum at the National Press Club, Robert Bryant, the national counterintelligence executive, said the U.S. finally is making the charges public because China and Russia are stealing sensitive U.S. technology data.

"If we build their economies on our information, that's not right," he said. "We want to basically point out what the issue is. We want to be worried and we want to be careful, but we also want there to be an awareness and, frankly, drive that toward solutions where we work together to bring this under control."

The report is part of an increased effort by U.S. officials to highlight the risks of cyberattacks in a growing high-tech society. People, businesses and governments are storing an increasing amount of valuable and sensitive information online or accessing data through mobile devices that may not be as secure as some computers.

Rome embassy blasts wound two

Frances D'Emilio, Associated Press, Rome | Fri, 12/24/2010 9:24 AM | World

Mail bombs exploded in the hands of employees at the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome on Thursday, seriously wounding two people and triggering heightened security checks at diplomatic missions just as holiday deliveries deluge their mailrooms.

Italian investigators suspected the attacks were the work of anarchists, similar to the two-day wave of mail bombs that targeted several embassies in Athens last month - including those of Chile and Switzerland.

Swiss Ambassador Bernardino Regazzoni, speaking to reporters outside his embassy, said the device that exploded had been mailed, but he didn't say from where.

The bomb at the Chilean embassy was mailed from inside Italy, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. But Chilean Ambassador Oscar Godoy said it wasn't yet clear if the package - a medium-sized envelope big enough to hold documents and addressed to the cultural attache - had been mailed or delivered by a messenger.

"There were no flames, just a little smoke," said Godoy.

The bombs seemed aimed to injure if not maim or kill those opening them.

Surgeons removed an iron bolt that had embedded itself in the chest of the Chilean embassy employee who opened the package, said Massimiliano Talucci, a spokesman for Umberto I Polyclinic, where the man was hospitalized. The Chilean also suffered a serious hand wound and face injuries, and risks losing the sight in one eye. The Swiss official suffered hand and chest wounds.

Chilean envoy Godoy denounced the explosion at his mission as "an absolutely irrational and brutal act," and said there had been no threats to indicate it could be a target.