Falun Gong Hacks Chinese Satellite

maetenloch writes: "Last week Falun Gong hackers in China were able to briefly take over the Sinosat-1 satellite and broadcast a banner for several minutes on all channels of China Central Television. This was apparently repeated several time on different channels on Sunday but so far the Chinese government has imposed a news blackout on the incident. However thanks to the Internet and the millions of witnesses, word has leaked out. Surprisingly, security on satellites can be very weak - often transponders are left on when not active and will continue to rebroadcast whatever is beamed at them. It's believed that Falun Gong used a 3 meter dish antenna mounted on a vehicle to overpower the government's uplink signal. This is not the only time that satellite signals have been hacked - there was the famous 'Captain Midnight' incident in 1986 and it's believed that Iraq has been attacking Kurdish satellite tv channels for several years. Hackers have even (discreetly) made use of the U.S. Navy's FleetSatCom satellites."

Comments

Disregard the politics for a second

[ringbarer]

Whatever you think of Falun Gong vs. The Chinese Government, you've got to admit that this is a cool hack. The kind of thing you used to see in 'futuristicky' 1980's sci-fi movies.

Moments like this, along with the Anthrax outbreak last year, are beginning to define socio-political conflict in the 21st Century.

China can't keep all the news out.

[tcm614ce]

With the internet now readily available in Beijing, it's very difficult for the ChiComs to keep news like this from the general public. I seems to me at first glance that tricks like this could be a good way to undermine a particular government's confidence in it's "right" to rule. Similar stunts all put together over many years time (e.g. Boston Tea Party) have worked in the past...

Re:China can't keep all the news out.

[nemesisj]

Sigh. Why's it so difficult to keep news like this from the public? Did you read the article and here how the Chinese news was reporting that the picture was "fuzzy" and "only displayed for about 20 seconds"? This happened in one province of China, so that leaves about a billion people left who didn't see it for themselves. Here's a quote from a previous post of mine about China and the internet:

"Also, why can't they control the internet? They own all the infrastructure, the ISPs, the cable, everything. You're not very informed to think they just can't turn off whatever they want. They block all of geocities and angelfire, and often block cnn and other news sites when some issue that is sensitive to the government is happening. Don't underestimate what a determined dictatorship can accomplish, especially when they hold all of the cards."

Another point - why does it matter if the people aren't convinced that the CCP has the right to rule? The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) has all the guns, military, etc. and revolt is downright impossible.

Doubtful

[zaren]

From what (little) I know about Falun Gong, hacking a satellite doesn't sound like something they'd do, since it's much more likely to be illegal than a sit-down type protest, and MUCH more likely to bring the jackboots down on them.

I'm inclined to think it was some other band of kiddiez that just wanted a good cover for their actions, like the "Hacked By Chinese" incidents from last year.

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Ignorant!

[Outland Traveller]

Try "Civil Rights Activists", and before you rail at me for being some so-called militant leftist, why don't you actually research the recent government reaction to the Falung Gong movement in China.

Re:Ignorant!

[Rupert]

Just because a repressive regime hates you does not mean you are not a religious nutcase.

Falun Gong is a cult every bit as bad as the Scientologists, with an emphasis on physical exercises rather than mental.

Oddly, there is a town in Wisconsin called Falun. I keep meaning to go there to see if they have a gong.

Re:Who's the "terrorist?"

[tftp]

Are the Falun terrorists for "hijacking" Chinese TV?

I doubt they will be branded as terrorists, since no harm or threat was caused by this prank. However, the government will be in its rights to question every FG member, and maybe arrest a lot of them for participation in this deed.

But the more FG does what it just did, the clearer it becomes for the West that FG is indeed what Chinese government claimed all along - an army of militants, not a health club. The hack of a satellite falls into territory of sabotage and propaganda, something that health clubs don't do.

Re:Who's the "terrorist?"

[bourne]

Are the Falun terrorists for "hijacking" Chinese TV? Or are they rebels in a quest against the evil empire?

Insofar as they aren't practicing any actual form of terror, I'm going to vote "not terrorist."

To the best of my knowledge, they aren't...

• Attacking or killing non-combatants
• Threatening harm to non-combatants
• Attacking or killing police or military forces
• Threatening harm to police or military forces
• Threatening vital public infrastructure

I think, at worst, you could call them an insurgent organization. But in my book, no terror = no terrorism - and popping "falun gong is good" on the telly signal for a few seconds is not "terror" by any definition I've ever heard.

Re:Falun Gong are terrorists.

[sinserve]

By that defenition, the self bombing palestenians who are resisting the
israeli occupation are NOT terrorists but freedom fighters. Do I read you
correctly?

Re:Stirring a Hornet's nest

[PhilHibbs]

Lead by a guy hiding in NY while his followers get themselves killed either by burning themselves or by getting thrown in jail for eternity

When an organisation is led by a leader that doesn't put themselves in the line of fire, they are criticised for cowardice. Why is this never applied to governments?

Hacked in the traditional sense, not cracked

[Argyle]

I doubt this was a computer hack, just a RF hack.

I am assuming that the Chinese are using a simple analog transmission over the transponder without any CA (conditional access/security).

If you have a big enough dish and enough power, you could get the transponder to lock to your carrier and get rebroadcast. The picture would look crappy, but it can be done.

There's no great defense against it other than implementing a secured digital transmission system where the IRDs (integrated receiver/demodualtors) do not have analog reception capability.

All the Falun Gong needed was an Earth Station anywhere in Asia that could see the bird and was willing to transmit. I doubt it was done from inside China. They'd know where all the 5+ meter dishes are in China and who was working them.

Information warfare of this type has a bit of a financial barrier to overcome to engage in, but once on the offensive, it is quite tough to defend against. The Soviet Union and Cuba were unable to stop the US radio and TV propaganda broadcasts throughout the cold war, no matter how much they spent.

Terrorist, as defined by USA PATRIOT

[ehintz]

Since we seem to have a flurry of conflicting opinions regarding whether Falun Gong's activities are terrorism...

USA PATRIOT defines domestic terrorism as activities that attempt "to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion".

Dictionary.com defines "coerce" thus:

coerce (k-ûrs)
tr.v. coerced, coercing, coerces
1. To force to act or think in a certain way by use of pressure,
threats, or intimidation; compel.

By that definition, Falun Gong are terrorists. So are all of us that marched on federal buildings attempting to use "pressure" to "compel" the DOJ to free Dmitry. Which serves as a good example of one of the many things that are wrong with USA PATRIOT.

Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the terrorist party?