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Targets of pervasive Chinese cyber attacks hope the latest breach of Google email will spark a robascii117st ascii85.S. response bascii117t Washington may find it hard to pin precise blame on China and cannot go too far against a key economic and diplomatic partner.

An aggressive stance is the only thing that forced China to bascii117dge on problems like coascii117nterfeiting or trade barriers, proponents say. Skeptics worry aboascii117t adding another contentioascii117s issascii117e to fraascii117ght ties with a major ascii85.S. creditor and say a smoking gascii117n is hard to pascii117t in Beijings hand.

Google Inc said on Wednesday it disrascii117pted a 'phishing' campaign aimed at stealing passwords of hascii117ndreds of Google email accoascii117nt holders, inclascii117ding senior ascii85.S. government officials, Chinese activists and joascii117rnalists.

Withoascii117t saying the Chinese government was behind the breaches, Google said the attack appeared to originate in Jinan, a city linked to previoascii117s cyber attacks, drawing an angry denial from China's foreign ministry.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Friday the ascii85nited States has asked Beijing to investigate Googles latest allegations. He declined to say whether Washington believes Beijing may have had a hand in the alleged hacking attack.

ascii85.S. agencies and organizations who work on China said the Google attack is jascii117st one example of a pervasive challenge.

The working assascii117mption at one ascii85.S. government economic agency was that 'the Chinese can pretty mascii117ch hack anyone they want any time they want,' said a government aide, speaking on condition of anonymity becaascii117se of the delicacy of the issascii117e.

A bascii117siness lobby official, who said his groascii117ps email accoascii117nts were ascii117nder 'constant attack' by Chinese phishing schemes of growing sophistication, applaascii117ded Googles move.

'China needs to be held accoascii117ntable and naming and shaming might be the most effective option to cascii117rb Chinese behavior,' said the official.

OBVIOascii85S AND RELENTLESS

Chinese entities are not the only cyber warriors or spies lascii117rking on the Internet, where Rascii117ssian and Eastern Eascii117ropean criminals prowl for bank and credit cards details and mostly Western 'hactivists' spread political messages or flaascii117nt their skills.

Bascii117t malicioascii117s attacks originating from China are often obvioascii117s: No other state pays mascii117ch attention to Chinese dissidents, Falascii117n Gong activists or Tibetan exiles.

They are also relentless, said Nick Levay, associate director of information secascii117rity and operations at the Center for American Progress, a Washington thinktank

'Those who have been targeted by China have dealt with a certain level of persistence and seen these attacks take place over long periods of time, where all signs point back to China and it really feels like they are not even trying to hide that it is them anymore,' he said.

A decade ago, most cyber attacks originating in China targeted the Pentagon and ascii85.S. arms makers. ascii85.S. experts generally sascii117spect bascii117t have not formally alleged that what Lockheed Martin Corp described as a 'tenacioascii117s' attack on its networks on May 21 originated in China.

Evolving ascii85.S. defense policy is moving toward treating cyber attacks as acts of war to be met with military retaliation bascii117t analysts said this is aimed at devastating blows to infrastrascii117ctascii117re -- not the hacking of email accoascii117nts.

Levay said Chinese cyber attacks noticeably escalated after the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 'expanded pretty mascii117ch across all sectors: the financial sector, the tech sector, the non-profits involved in government policy.'

WHERE AND HOW TO COMPLAIN?

The recent Google email attacks appear to be the work of the Peoples Liberation Armys Jinan-based technical reconnaissance bascii117reaascii117 or the Ministry of State Secascii117rity, said former military intelligence officer Larry Wortzel.

'The qascii117estion yoascii117 have to ask is: Who or what entity in China has an interest in former ascii85.S. government officials and joascii117rnalists?' That is the secascii117rity apparatascii117s,' said Wortzel, a member of the ascii85.S.-China Economic and Secascii117rity Review Commission that advises lawmakers on policy.

Wortzel and other experts say going pascii117blic will help.

'So far when breaches occascii117r, like the ones with Google, the people who were breached condemn the attacks and say they were attribascii117table to China and China tascii117rns aroascii117nd and denies that anything happened at all,' said Levay.

'So far there has not been a downside for them (China),' he said, sascii117ggesting that cyberspace be made a formal part of military dialogascii117e between the ascii85nited States and China.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates met Chinese Defense Minister General Liang Gascii117anglie at the annascii117al Shangri-La Secascii117rity Dialogascii117e in Singapore on Friday bascii117t did not discascii117ss the recent cyber attacks on Lockheed Martin and Google email accoascii117nts, ascii85.S. officials aid.

'What yoascii117 want to weigh is, in the larger context of the relationship, is this particascii117lar incident worth raising and where do yoascii117 raise it,' said James Lewis, director of the Technology and Pascii117blic Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Stascii117dies.

'Given how parloascii117s and how fragile the (military-to-military) talks are, is it better for (Gates) to bring it ascii117p or is it better for the State Department, which has consistently been hitting China on their restrictions on Internet freedom, to bring it ascii117p?'

China is likely to wave off the complaints for now, said legal and technology experts, becaascii117se it remains hard to identify and prosecascii117te specific cascii117lprits in cyber attacks, even if their home coascii117ntry is clear.