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

My bad.

[Mulletproof]

Oops. That comment was supposed to be under:

Falun Gong (Score:0)
by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 03, @10:01AM

The text of the article

[xyzzy-ladder]

Before we were just suspicious that US covert operations were behind Fulan Gong, now it seems likely.

"The human rights and democracy centre said an antenna with a diameter of 3m could disrupt reception for hundreds of kilometres."

When the "Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy" is being sourced for broadcast disruption capabilities, it makes you wonder exactly what this organization does!

I imagine the Chinese Communist Party bigwigs are choking on their rage. Nothing is funnier than scorned authoritarians (at least when you are out of their reach, like me).

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204, 46 00187%5E15322%5E%5Enbv%5E15306,00.html

Falun Gong hijacks Chinese TV
Catherine Armitage
JUNE 29, 2002 MILLIONS of Chinese television viewers got a shock this week when Falun Gong propaganda was beamed into their living rooms as members of the banned sect hijacked one of China's main television satellites.

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And in Beijing, surprised residents answered their phones this month to find a recorded Falun Gong message, up to five minutes long, attacking the Government's anti-Falun Gong claims point by point.

The hacking incidents highlight Falun Gong's sophistication and audacity as the group attempts to fight back in China and overseas.

The satellite broadcast, in which a banner reading "Falun Gong is good" replaced normal TV viewing in Shandong province on Sunday night and again in prime time on Tuesday, is among the group's most daring moves since it was banned in 1999.

Chinese security sources told The South China Morning Post that most of China Central Television's 10 channels, and another 10 provincial channels sharing the Sinosat-1 satellite, were interrupted on Sunday night.

The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, based in Hong Kong, said the Falun Gong banner appeared on TV screens in Yantai city, Shandong and Laiyang county twice last week, in some cases for up to 15 minutes. The centre said it had confirmed the incidents with local security authorities and television stations.

A spokesman for the Yantai security office in charge of dealing with Falun Gong said it had received complaints from the public. "They said a blurred image appeared on their screens for between 10 and 20 seconds," an official said.

A news blackout was enforced on the mainland and security officials and TV stations denied all knowledge of the incidents yesterday.

Hong Kong media said Vice-President Li Lanqing, responsible for the mainland media, had ordered an investigation into the hacking. After the Falun Gong broadcast, millions of TV sets in remote and rural areas went black as the authorities tried to trace the source of the interruption.

Officials are reportedly perplexed as to how Falun Gong had the knowledge and equipment needed to intercept a satellite broadcast. There was speculation sect followers had equipped a vehicle to avoid notice.

The human rights and democracy centre said an antenna with a diameter of 3m could disrupt reception for hundreds of kilometres.

Similar incidents occurred in January in Chonqing, Sichuan province, in March in Jilin province where Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi was born and in Harbin in April. In these cases the targets were cable TV stations. More than 20 Falun Gong members were arrested over the March hacking and face up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

Falun Gong's recorded telephone message - sent to an unknown number of Beijing residents, and probably further - claimed the Government had fabricated the incident in which three Falun Gong supporters set themselves alight in Tiananmen Square in January 2001.

The recording also said sect followers were beaten and tortured in prison, and invited listeners to follow prompts to hear more information or Falun Gong songs.