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Journalism of Courage
Researchers at one of Chinas top universities collaborated with a Chinese army unit accused of carrying out hacking attacks on the US,academic papers published online reveal.
The elite Shanghai Jiaotong University conducted network security research with Peoples Liberation Army PLA Unit 61398,the co-authored papers reveal. A US security company said last month that the army unit,also based in Chinas commercial hub Shanghai,was behind serial hacking attacks on US firms,sparking a war of words between the two powers.
Last week US President Barack Obama raised cybersecurity with Chinas new President Xi Jinping. China has denied that it engages in hacking and claims its military is a victim of cyberattacks mostly originating in the US.
Several researchers at Shanghai Jiaotongs School of Information Security Engineering SISE published research with members of Unit 61938,with projects dating back to 2007,the papers easily accessed online show.
Subjects of the joint research include the design of an intrusion monitoring system for computer networks and ways to evaluate attack graphs,which show how an adversary can break into a computer system. None of the papers described plans to carry out cyberattacks on foreign targets. The university was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.
Xue Zhi,a co-author of one of the papers and SISEs vice-president,is the developer of Chinas leading cyber-penetration attack platform,according to the varsitys website.
Shanghai Jiaotong University is one of Chinas flagship educational institutions with former President Jiang Zemin amongst its alumni.
