Imagine if they attack us!
The public in China may not like most government websites, but
hackers love them. Research shows that hackers tampered with 4,635
Chinese government websites in 2010, almost a 70 per cent increase
in one year. Many did so to express their political or religious
views, authorities said.
"Besides posting pictures or text on government websites to get
across their different views on political events or religious
beliefs, some hackers simply try to penetrate government websites
to show off their skills. These people always leave their name on
the sites," said a written statement released exclusively to China
Daily by the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical
Team (CNCERT) run by the Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology.
Government websites account for about 1 per cent of all websites
based in China - and more than 10 per cent of those hit by hackers
last year, the statement said. Ministry websites were among those
hit, CNCERT said, although it didn't provide examples.
CNCERT, which is responsible for monitoring incidents on
national public networks, said some hackers are motivated by
financial gain. They plant Trojan viruses on government websites to
steal users' information or control their computers.
Hackers began to lay their virtual hands on China's government
websites as use of the sites grew. They are more vulnerable than
commercial websites because of poor management and outdated
technology to combat attacks.
Fan Dongdong and Wen Chao, both 19, received 12- and 18-month
prison sentences on Feb. 18 in Beijing for redirecting links on the
website of the country's Supreme People's Procuratorate - the top
agency for legal supervision - and more than a dozen other
government websites.
"For every infected link on the Supreme People's Procuratorate
website, we got 4 yuan to 7 yuan," Fan said in court. Fan and Wen
had hacked into websites more than seven times from March to May
2010, making a profit of about 6,000 yuan (S$1,158).
"These days, most Chinese hackers attacking government websites
simply want to let the government know that people are not happy
with their performance," said one of China's best-known hackers and
a network security expert, who is known by the nickname
"Oldjun."
"We don't mean any harm but we want to catch the authorities'
attention on certain issues. Those attacks wouldn't exist if there
were no misconduct by the government."
Oldjun posted a Chinese national flag on the homepage of the
Melbourne International Film Festival two years ago to protest its
decision to show a movie about Rebiya Kadeer. The Chinese
government believes she masterminded and carried out attacks that
left 197 dead and more than 1,700 injured in Urumqi, capital of the
Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on July 5, 2009.
Another hacking case occurred in November when the government of
Yongji county in Northeast China's Jilin province provided just two
options - "satisfied" and "very satisfied" - in an online poll.
Thousands of netizens dubbed it the "poll of absolute
satisfaction."
An official, surnamed Li, in the county's information service
center said the options had been changed by hackers and authorities
were forced to shut down the website on Nov 25.
"The county has become the laughingstock of the whole country.
It has severely damaged Yongji's image," Li said.
"I never imagined how much effort we have had to put into
maintaining the website. It is really not as simple as we first
thought. The hackers gave us a harsh lesson. Now we are looking out
for them all the time."
In its statement, CNCERT urged all Chinese government websites
to boost their firewall systems and employ more qualified web
administrators. It said officials should realize that maintaining
the websites is more important than constructing them.
Oldjun agreed. "Those measures not only help to combat Chinese
hackers' attacks. More important, they prevent foreign spies from
getting hold of our national secrets."