Friday, 27 April 2001 15:45 (ET)
Chinese hackers threaten May Day attack
By C.M. WADE, UPI Correspondent
SHANGHAI, China, April 27 (UPI) -- As the war of words between China and
the United States escalates, with both sides talking tough over approval of
U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, a torrent of hacker hostilities has some
wondering if the first battle will be fought in cyberspace.
Over the past week, online state media have run articles and editorials
claiming Chinese hackers are planning a major online "war" against
U.S.-based Web sites during the week-long Labor Day holiday, beginning May
1.
According to Beijing-based 21cnn.com.cn, an official government site,
hackers are preparing to wage an all-out "national defense war" in
retaliation for recent attacks by U.S. hackers on Chinese sites.
In an article quoting mostly unnamed sources, 21cnn.com praised Chinese
hackers as "fearless revolutionary heroes" standing up to "American bullies"
and elevated their efforts to the status of defenders of the nation.
Other Chinese sites carried similar articles, including one on
Nasdaq-listed Sina.com that predicts the attacks would occur anywhere
between May 1 and May 7 -- the two-year anniversary of the U.S. bombing of
China's embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Since the April 1 collision between a U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane and a
Chinese fighter jet over Hainan Island, American hackers have defaced a
number of Chinese sites. In retaliation, Chinese hackers have launched their
own Web attacks.
Both sides' efforts have so far amounted to little more than harassment,
with sites branded with either anti-American or anti-Chinese messages.
Analysts, while mindful of the potential for serious damage from the
hackers, are skeptical about a cyberwar between computer users in the
countries.
"It's doubtful that they would be able to do much damage, possibly deface
a few Web pages," said Zhang Yi, a senior computer analyst for a
Beijing-based consulting firm. "Even if they are able to cause serious
damage, it's not like they are attacking U.S. government-owned Web sites."
Gao Feng, a computer science professor at Ji Tong University in Shanghai,
said the hacker attacks amount to little more than the competing egos of a
handful of cyberspace amateurs.
"They want to show off what they can do," he said. "The real threat comes
from professional hackers, those who are able to embezzle money and steal
sensitive government information."
The hackers are probably nothing more than a small group of individuals
driven by a sense of nationalistic pride and one-upmanship, he said.
"Competition between hackers is nothing new, these recent incidents just
happen to be between Chinese and Americans," Gao said. "Of course, if the
hackers become more politically motivated, it could pose a problem."
The Chinese government, which has been riding a wave of nationalism and
anti-American sentiment in response to the spy-plane collision, has been
quick to distance itself from hackers operating within the country.
"We are opposed to all threats to online security," said Ye Hui, an
official with the Ministry of Information Office, a government agency that
monitors the Internet. "This includes hackers who are using China as a base
to attack foreign Web sites. Any violators will be held accountable and
prosecuted."
The official said any Chinese hacker's actions are not sanctioned by the
government.
But the threats of a cyber attack were enough to prompt U.S. authorities
and security firms on Thursday to issue a warning to American businesses.
A statement issued by the FBI's National Federal Infrastructure Protection
Center, which investigates online crime, warned of increased hacker activity
directed at U.S. systems between April 30 and May 7.
"Chinese hackers have publicly discussed increasing their activity during
this period, which coincides with dates of historic significance," the
statement said. "To date, hackers already have unlawfully defaced a number
of U.S. Web sites, replacing existing content with pro-Chinese or anti-U.S.
rhetoric."
In March, the NIPC warned about an "Internet worm" -- malicious codes that
infects unprotected computers and makes them attack other networks -- named
"Lion." Lion steals victims' computer passwords and sends them back to a
computer in China.
The NIPC warned that the Internet worm might have been planted in
preparation for a major denial of service attack. The worm can create a
network of computers that work in concert to flooding a Web site or a server
with messages, clogging the lines and preventing customers or legitimate
users from getting through.
A White House official told United Press International Thursday that the
danger to the United States extends far beyond an altered Web page or an
inability to dial up a favorite site -- the U.S. electric grid is linked to
the Internet, he pointed out.
"There is significant potential to do far more damaging things than doing
DOS or messing up someone's Web site," he said. "I suspect no major problems
will result. Most of it may just be hacker nonsense. However, if it goes
beyond that, though unfortunate, it might help raise awareness that in the
future, this can be a true risk."
Two years ago, the Pentagon created the Joint Task Force for Computer
Network Defense, which monitors Defense Department computer networks 24
hours a day, poised to direct local network administrators when and how to
respond to attacks.
It only monitors Defense Department sites, and can legally take no
retaliatory action against hackers.
Hackers identifying themselves as members of the Hacker Union of China
took credit for at least one attack on U.S. sites. The site was covered in
Chinese flags, political slogans in Chinese and English and photographs of
Chinese pilot Wang Wei who was killed when his fighter jet collided with a
U.S. plane over the South China Sea April 1.
"As we are Chinese, we love our motherland and its people deeply. We are
so indignant about the intrusion from the imperialism. The only thing we
could say is that, when we are needed, we are ready to devote anything to
our motherland, even including our lives," the posting read.
A Web page hosting the Hackers Union of China posted a list of 10 Web
sites hacked in memory of the missing pilot. The Hackers Union refers to
itself as a "network security organization" on its Web site, cnhonker.com.
(Pamela Hess and Anwar Iqbal contributed to this report from Washington.)
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