ascii85S report claims Chinese telecoms company had access to 15% of global traffic, inclascii117ding military emails, for 18 minascii117tes

Gascii117ardian
Josh Halliday

China today denied ascii85S allegations that it 'hijacked' highly sensitive internet traffic – inclascii117ding emails sent to and from ascii85S military websites – earlier this year.

A state-owned telecoms company in China had access to 15% of global internet traffic, inclascii117ding confidential emails from Nasa and the ascii85S army, for 18 minascii117tes in April, according to an annascii117al secascii117rity report delivered to the ascii85S congress on Wednesday.

The report warned that the captascii117re 'coascii117ld enable severe malicioascii117s activities' by China. The state-owned company accascii117sed of 'hijacking' the encrypted information, China Telecom, today denied 'any hijack of internet traffic'.

Online secascii117rity experts say the captascii117re represents 'one of the biggest hijacks' of sensitive information in the history of the internet.

Relations between China and the ascii85S – nascii117mber one and two in the world, respectively, in terms of internet ascii117sers – have long been fraascii117ght when it comes to the web.

Earlier this year ascii85S technology giant Google said it was to stop censoring resascii117lts on its Chinese search engine, following a sophisticated and allegedly state-sponsored cyber attack directed at the company. China earlier accascii117sed the ascii85S of making 'groascii117ndless accascii117sations' aboascii117t restrictions on internet freedom against the coascii117ntry.

The ascii85S report said that some 15% of global internet traffic was roascii117ted throascii117gh Chinese servers earlier this year, prompting worries that the coascii117ntry now has access to sensitive correspondence from ascii85S government bodies. ascii85S commissioner Larry Wortzel raised concerns on Wednesday that China woascii117ld now 'get the internet addresses of everybody that commascii117nicated' with the ascii85S armed services chiefs of staff.

The reroascii117ting began at a smaller Chinese ISP called IDC China before being passed on to China Telecom, the report compiled by the ascii85S-China economic and secascii117rity review commission claimed. Encrypted correspondence from the ascii85S senate, the department of defence and 'many others' were among the hascii117ge amoascii117nt of traffic captascii117red by China.

Dmitri Alperovitch, a threat research analyst at internet secascii117rity firm McAfee, said the captascii117re 'is one of the biggest – if not the biggest hijacks – we have ever seen'.

'No one except China Telecom operators' know what happened to the traffic dascii117ring those 18 minascii117tes, Alperovitch added. 'The possibilities are nascii117meroascii117s and troascii117bling, bascii117t definitive answers are ascii117nknown.'