Emergency.Blog

Chinese hackers: No site is safe

LEAD STORY -- March 7, 2008 -- Updated 1635 GMT (0035 HKT)

Chinese hackers: No site is safe
['Know about both yourself and the enemy, and you will be invincible.']

By John Vause, CNN

HOUSHAN, CHINA(CNN): They operate from a bare apartment on a Chinese island. They are intelligent 20-somethings who seem harmless. But they are hard-core hackers who claim to have gained access to the world's most sensitive sites, including the Pentagon.

The leader of these Chinese hackers says there "is always a weakness" on networks that allows cyber break-ins.

In fact, they say they are sometimes paid secretly by the Chinese government -- a claim the Beijing government denies.

"No Web site is one hundred percent safe. There are Web sites with high-level security, but there is always a weakness," says Xiao Chen, the leader of this group.

"Xiao Chen" is his online name. Along with his two colleagues, he does not want to reveal his true identity. The three belong to what some Western experts say is a civilian cyber militia in China, launching attacks on government and private Web sites around the world.

If there is a profile of a cyber hacker, these three are straight from central casting -- young and thin, with skin pale from spending too many long nights in front of a computer.

One hacker says he is a former computer operator in the People's Liberation Army; another is a marketing graduate; and Xiao Chen says he is a self-taught programmer.

"First, you must know about the Web site you want to attack. You must know what program it is written with," says Xiao Chen. "There is a saying, 'Know about both yourself and the enemy, and you will be invincible...'"

-- Source/continues: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/03/07/china.hackers/index.html

(Includes Video: Watch hackers' clandestine Chinese operation)

---

Emergency.Com References:

• "China; The Emerging Threat?" (Friend or Peer Competitor...) Flash Briefing, can be found at:
  http://www.emergency.com/2006/emerging_china_flash.htm
  
  
• Tuesday, September 11, 2007 --"Cyber attacks: a new weapon in the state arsenal" can be found at:
  http://www.emergency.com/archive/2007/09/entry_252.htm
  
  
• "Series of EmergencyNet News Reports Concerning A Cyber-Conflict Between Chinese and USA Hackers: 13 Apr 2001 to 05 May 2001," Can be found at: http://www.emergency.com/2001/chinese-cyberwar2001.htm
  
  
• 20 Mar 2000 -- Recent DoS Attacks Point Out Already Known Vulnerability of U.S. Infrastructure,"
  Section: 'CHINA: The Re-Emerging Dragon'
  By: C. L. Staten, CEO and Sr. National Security Analyst, Emergency Response & Research Institute (ERRI)
  Can be found on the internet at: http://www.emergency.com/2000/cybersec2000.htm