Chinese Hackers: Log In Here.

Since we seem to be unable to deliver mail on Saturdays I shouldn’t be surprised that China can walk in and out of our most secure computer complexes like it was the public library. In recent days yet one more allegation of “computer hacking” has been leveled at the Chinese Military. If this were the first time something like this happened I’d be more forgiving. However, this is a very big and dangerous game we are playing on the world stage and this hacking has been going on way too long. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Twitter, Facebook and Apple are only the latest victims of cyber snooping by the Chinese.

We’ve Played Nice For Too Long

Ever since the Vietnam War we’ve been tiptoeing around China. They are one of the five voting members on the United Nation’s Security Council — and vote against us most of the time. They are one of our largest trading partners; they hold a sizable amount of our debt and try to put as many roadblocks in front of our success as possible. They peg their currency to ours and support our enemies in many cases.

Not only are they hacking into government computers but they are also targeting US companies for any secrets they can use to make “knock-offs” of our products and innovations. Known counts are 115. For all anyone knows it could be ten times, or 100 times more. China is not just taking a few emails here and there they are taking terabytes of information from government and corporation computers.

When is someone going to take the gloves off and seriously confront these leaders? I realize they are a nuclear power and have a massive military. In fact, the easiest way for them to win the war with us is simply to surrender. Just feeding and housing the prisoners of war would bankrupt us. But to do nothing or to rattle our empty scabbards at them seems to have not has much effect. Maybe getting the formula for Coca-Cola will be enough to reinforce our leaders feet of clay. Look for China-Cola, or Choke, on a store shelf near you.

Mac Attack

If you are a Mac owner like I am then you need to go to “Software Update” under the Apple menu on the top left of your window. There is some evidence to suggest that a security weakness in Java Script might be the path hackers used to access some Mac Computers. To double-check your computer you can go to www.apple.com for more info. Normal virus programs are not a protection against these types of attacks.

Some Final Thoughts

It’s pretty easy to sit on the sidelines and Monday morning quarterback our computer experts. I’m sure it’s a full time job keeping up with a country that has more geniuses than our entire population. Sleep sound tonight wondering about all the things that are run by computer in this country — which is pretty much everything. Power grid, phones, Internet, water systems, financial districts, stock exchange, Federal Reserve — it’s open season on all of them. We’ve been sharing the wealth long enough; it’s time to start sharing a little financial and technological pain.