Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...
Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...
Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...
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<strong>Beijing</strong> <strong>Olympics</strong> <strong>2008</strong>: <strong>Winning</strong> <strong>Press</strong> <strong>Freedom</strong><br />
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outside the country compromising these systems could account for a significant<br />
percentage of attacks emanating from Chinese government networks. It is highly doubtful<br />
that the People’s Liberation Army, for example, would launch attacks from accounts so<br />
easily identified. However, civilian hackers could find these compromised machines<br />
excellent launching pads for attacks.<br />
Finally, a further blurring of the lines between civilian and government activities is the way<br />
the government will tend to co-opt public facilities and draft them into military service. In<br />
2003, Dongshan District of Guangzhou, one of the major science and technology centers<br />
in the southern region, spent $54,000 to turn the provincial telecommunications company,<br />
data communications bureau, microwave communications bureau, and Southern Satellite<br />
Telecommunications Services Corporation into a militia information warfare battalion.<br />
While these public facilities were becoming an official unit in the militia battalion, others<br />
such as NetEase Guangdong and the China Unicom Paging Company in Guangzhou were<br />
being brought on board, even though they did not have an established mission.<br />
The Guangdong area has been cited as one of the major areas for “governmentsponsored”<br />
hacking, and the activities of groups such as these may be adding to the<br />
confusion of what is State organized and what is civilian.<br />
I hope that this brief overview of the technology behind these targeted malware attacks,<br />
and consideration of who might be responsible for them has proved interesting and<br />
informative - particularly to those whose organizations have been recently attacked.<br />
Journalists traveling to <strong>Beijing</strong> in August need to be aware of the dangers online in China.<br />
Media organizations have been very recently targeted by Chinese hackers - both through<br />
stealthy cyber-espionage, and less subtle denial of service attacks on CNN, for example.<br />
Also, you may wish to report on these issues. If, in the future, you find your organization<br />
has been attacked in the ways I have outlined here, please, don’t hesitate to get in touch:<br />
jamyang@08310.org<br />
My thanks to Mikko H. Hypponen, Maarten Van Horenbeeck and Scott Henderson.