And now, thanks to the NSA, we can’t even take the moral high ground…

The public exposure of Chinese military hacking group PLA Unit 61398, also known as APT1 or Comment Crew, has done nothing to stop its activities, merely driving its members further underground, warns a new US congressional report.

It was almost a year ago that China’s military was first outed by the New York Times, working alongside cybersecurity firm Mandiant, for being behind a series of hacks against targets in the United States. In the wake of the revelations, articles were written, high-level talks between officials took place, and defense budgets were increased – but has this made a dent in China’s hacking efforts? Not even the slightest… In a new draft report from the US-China Economic and Security Commission, it’s been revealed that the public outing only caused China’s hackers to go into hiding for about a month – a holiday of sorts – before ramping up their attacks once more.

“From what we can tell, they are still stealing the same type of data from the same industries,” said Mandiant spokeswoman Susan Helmick in an interview with Reuters. “The focus appears to be the same but the methods and malware, they had to shift.”

No doubt there will uproar in the US once again, but rather than point the finger of blame at the Chinese, perhaps now is the time to ask what the Pentagon’s burgeoning cybersecurity force has been doing in the meantime to shore up our defenses?

In all fairness, the resilience of PLA Unit 61398 could just as well be attributed to US incompetence as it is to its own capabilities. Okay, so they’re good at what they do – they’ve managed to hack into all kinds of agencies and organizations, and even the President. They’ve stolen the design files of secret US military weapons, corporate secrets and more. And things seem to be escalating too, with reports that some of those responsible for attacks on US targets aren’t even in China’s military at all, but rather they’re ‘hackers for hire’, according to security firm Symantec.

But isn’t the Pentagon at least trying to defend itself? Well, apparently so, but only up to a point. See, the thing is, its a bit of a touchy subject given that in all likelihood, the US is just as guilty as the Chinese are when it comes to hacking – and they don’t want to risk soiling Sino-american relations any more than they’ve already been. But even if relations weren’t an issue there’s the question of whether or not the Pentagon is actually capable of stopping the hackers – last summer, the Wall Street Journal detailed how US agencies have been working alongside ISPs to try and block China’s cyberspies, before revealing that these efforts are in actual fact, all but futile. “Part of the problem is we can close this door and it’s fairly easy for them to open another door,” said one unnamed official to the WSJ.

In the meantime, Chinese authorities have achieved a moral victory of sorts thanks to the escapades of one Edward Snowden. Whilst Beijing continues to deny the existence of its hacking units, the revelations – and admission – of the NSA’s global spying campaign have shifted the world’s attention away from Chinese threats to the US’s assault on internet privacy and freedom. Of course, the revelations have also given the Chinese plenty of ammunition to lambaste the USA whenever it dares to criticize them.