China Accused of Cyberattacks on U.S. Enviro Satellites

The U.S. government’s new Cybersecurity Initiative, which has included a sea change in the military’s scope, includes cyberspace as a military theater, just like air, land, and sea. What this means is that any cyber attack by another nation is equivalent to an “opening salvo” on a battlefield. A recent development then, in which the U.S. accused China of attempting to hack American environmental monitoring satellites, has potentially serious implications for U.S. – China relations.

The U.S. China Economic and Security Review Committee released a statement on Monday reporting satellite disruptions that was indicative of Chinese interference, but stated that the disruptions had “not been traced to China.” Instead they simply pointed to the similarities, stating that “the techniques appear consistent with authoritative Chinese military writings.” These writing include instructions to disabling enemy space systems. The committee’s report will be officially delivered to Congress on November 16^th.

Beijing responded aggressively, deriding the report and accusing the U.S. of viewing China with “colored lenses”. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei dismissed the issue, saying, “This report is untrue and has ulterior motives. It's not worth a comment.”

The satellites in question were not physically tampered with, and no information was breached, as they don’t receive or transmit any data. The satellites, LANDSAT-7 and TERRA AM-1, experienced interference from signals sent from a ground station in Norway. The signals were sent in 2007 and 2008. The committee’s draft report to Congress stated, “Access to a satellite‘s controls [from a ground station] could allow an attacker to damage or destroy the satellite. An attacker could also deny or degrade as well as forge or otherwise manipulate the satellite’s transmission.”

This is just the latest incident in which the Chinese have been accused of cyber attacks on U.S. government and public networks. Beijing, in turn, has denied or ignored every accusation. As these situations continue, particularly against targets pertaining to national security, there’s a potential for escalation between the U.S. and China. Unfortunately, responding to and preventing cyber attacks is much easier than figuring out who exactly is attacking. This anonymity provides other nations interested in U.S. intelligence and strategy a kind of “plausible deniability” that makes it incredibly difficult for foreign policy levers to work. The U.S. can’t sanction a nation that they don’t actually have proof of attacking them. To use the analogy of the “opening salvo” from the beginning of this article, it’s a bit like being surrounded by a defensive wall with no look outs in hundred-front war. The wall stops much of the various enemy’s operations, but every time a mortar comes over the wall, there’s no way of telling who launched it.