China hackers attacked staff's computers, congressman says

WASHINGTON — A member of Congress who has been critical of China's human rights record said today that the FBI had found that four computers in his congressional office had been "compromised" by hackers working out of China. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) said he believed that similar incidents had taken place on computers of other House members.

Wolf said that the computers affected in his office had been used by staff members who were working on human rights issues and that the intrusions began in 2006. Wolf said that he was planning to introduce a resolution in the House aimed at protecting congressional computers from future cyber-attacks and that he intended to speak on the House floor about the issue this afternoon.

Federal authorities have been increasingly concerned about the Chinese government deploying a diverse network of spies and scientists and others to sweep up U.S. technology in recent years.

It was reported last week that U.S. authorities were investigating whether Chinese officials secretly copied the contents of a government laptop computer during a visit to China by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and used the information to try to hack into Commerce Department computers. China denied the accusations, which were first reported by the Associated Press.

rick.schmitt@latimes.com