At least two US government civilian satellites were interfered with four or more times in 2007 and 2008 via a ground station in Norway, and China's military is a prime suspect, a draft of a report to Congress said.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which reported the interference, said it was "consistent with PLA doctrine," Larry Wortzel, one of the 12 commissioners, told Reuters on Friday. PLA is short for China's People's Liberation Army. Wortzel, a retired US Army colonel and former military attache in China, cautioned that commissioners cannot be sure that the activity in question can be linked to China. But he said Beijing had conducted numerous tests on space warfare systems in 2007 and 2008.
"I don't think it is a wild analytical leap to suggest that these hacks could have been part of that matrix of testing," Wortzel said in an email. Pinpointing responsibility for a cyberattack can be extremely difficult. Hackers typically mask their tracks by routing intrusions through computers on multiple continents and may make an attack appear to come from a third country.
The commission's account is based largely on a May 12 US Air Force briefing for the commission, which was set up by Congress in 2000 to report on the national security implications of US-China trade. Its final 2011 report is due to be sent to lawmakers on November 16.
The events at issue have not been traced to China but are being cited "because the techniques appear consistent with authoritative Chinese military writings" that have advocated disabling satellite control facilities in any conflict, the report said.
But Kongsberg Satellite Services, the Norwegian company that owns and operates the ground station said to have been penetrated by hackers, said it had no indication of the reported interference.
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