The Day China Diverted the Internet

Posted on Nov 18, 2010

Flickr / Tim Yang (CC-BY)

For 18 minutes last April 8, as much as 15 percent of the world’s Internet traffic was rerouted through Chinese servers, according to a U.S. commission, which said the diverted data included communications from Congress and the U.S. military.

The United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s annual report casts suspicion on China, but also acknowledges, “Evidence related to this incident does not clearly indicate whether it was perpetrated intentionally and, if so, to what ends.”

China denies any malicious intent.

New York Times:

The report, by the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, noted that the service provider, IDC China Telecommunication, broadcast inaccurate Web traffic routes for about 18 minutes on April 8. That information was then retransmitted by China’s state-owned China Telecommunications, effectively forcing data from the United States and other countries to pass through Chinese computer servers. A similar episode in March drew less attention.

The report said the move affected data traveling over both the government and military networks of the United States, including information from the Senate, the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, the secretary of defense’s office, NASA, the Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as from many American companies.

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