Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...
Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...
Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>Beijing</strong> <strong>Olympics</strong> <strong>2008</strong>: <strong>Winning</strong> <strong>Press</strong> <strong>Freedom</strong><br />
61<br />
operating outside of China have claimed that they have experienced targeted malware<br />
attacks such as the ones we considered earlier. It has also been noted that such attacks<br />
have coincided with calls by officials from the Ministry of Public Security for more<br />
aggressive measures against hostile “foreign forces subverting China via the Internet.”<br />
When we consider the international sphere, we see that <strong>Beijing</strong> has been able to turn to<br />
the Red Hacker Alliance as a proxy force as well as a rallying force for Chinese solidarity.<br />
Any historical account of the computer underground in China shows an organization that<br />
aggressively supports government policy through sophisticated online operations. Positive<br />
public perception of the alliance’s nationalistic posturing also offers some degree of<br />
protection and support from the central government. The Chinese public tends to see<br />
hackers as a voice of the people, capable of reaching across great distances to right the<br />
wrongs done to China by her enemies. In certain circles, famous hackers are revered as<br />
Hollywood stars might be, and not as criminals.<br />
Let us now consider evidence that the central government is engaged in tentative efforts<br />
to recruit members of the computer underground. Evidence drawn from Chinese Internet<br />
forums and news broadcasts clearly demonstrates that members of the Red Hacker<br />
Alliance would like to be a state-sponsored entity, and are rather offended not to be.<br />
In August 2005, Phoenix television news carried a report that Chinese hackers wanted to<br />
be recruited by the government to form Internet security battalions to safeguard the<br />
security of domestic networks. Posts on the Honker Union 2 of China’s bulletin board<br />
system were in agreement:<br />
“We need to move toward standardized honker unions. We can't wait until the nation has<br />
a crisis to act; we must be prepared to do something meaningful for the motherland. Why<br />
can't we become a government-approved network technology security unit?”<br />
According to other postings, various members of the organization had learned of foreign<br />
countries establishing “hacker network security units” and felt that China should do the<br />
same. On the government side, we can see something similar - some authorities<br />
expressing interest in recruiting or learning from members of the Red Hacker Alliance.<br />
Following the Sino-American cyber-conflict of 2001, ignited by the mid-air collision of a US<br />
reconnaissance aircraft and a Chinese fighter aircraft, the renowned Chinese military<br />
expert, Prof. Zhang Zhao Zhong, expounded on the vital significance of the seven-day<br />
network war.<br />
He suggested that these real-life experiences in network warfare should be officially<br />
researched for the benefit of the country. As the director of the National Defense<br />
University’s Military Science and Technology and Equipment Research Department, Zhang<br />
pointed out that during the the cyber-conflict, Chinese hackers had developed many new<br />
tactics and gained much experience.<br />
The weakness of security on government servers may be a possible explanation for the<br />
cyber-espionage charges leveled at China. Non-state hackers inside China, and hackers