Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Chinese Hackers Targeting NYPD Computers

Posted by timothy on from the everyone-wants-a-bite-of-the-apple dept.

Mike writes "A network of hackers, most based in China, have been making up to 70,000 attempts a day to break into the NYPD's computer system, the city's Commissioner, Raymond Kelly, revealed Wednesday. Kelly suggested that 'perhaps it is because of the NYPD's reach into the international arena' that they are being targeted for computer hacking 'in much the way the Pentagon has been.' The hackers are apparently using a botnet to make up to 5,000 attempts a day at various unsecured portals into the NYPD's files. China's foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang denied involvement in computer espionage. 'Some people outside of China are bent on fabricating lies of so-called Chinese computer spies,' he said last month. The obvious question is, why are the Chinese so interested in the NYPD computer network?"

7 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Track an IP? by x_IamSpartacus_x · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone should create a GUI interface using Visual-Basic to track an IP!

    1. Re:Track an IP? by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't hate! Visual Basic has always been great for creating GUIs. Just there are people who decided to write their code in it too

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
  2. They're not... by Thelasko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The obvious question is, why are the Chinese so interested in the NYPD computer network?

    They're not. The bot herder is probably in New York, and controlling the bots by tunneling so it looks like he/she is in China.

    Haven't you seen the movie Hackers?

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  3. Obvious questoin by Spazmania · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The obvious question is, why are the Chinese so interested in the NYPD computer network?

    No, the obvious question is why are the NYPD's computer people so dumb that they're reporting the generic, worm-generated port, web and ssh scans that everybody sees from China and everywhere else as an out-of-the-ordinary hacking attempt?

    --
    Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
  4. It's the Triads! by GPLDAN · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's criminal overlord Mandarin, controlling his gang of Triads from an underground bunker that can only be accessed via secret door in the base of the Statue of Liberty.

    It will take an epic alliance of Tony Stark and Peter Parker to put aside their past differences, fighting over the woman they both loved, and both lost, to put a stop to this criminal masterplot to end the world as we know it.

    Starring: Jackie Chan as the Mandarin
    Zac Efron as Peter Parker
    and Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark.

  5. That's so cute! by jtownatpunk.net · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Awwww. The NYPD thinks they're special. :rolleyes:

    I must be special, too, because I log tons of probes. Hundreds, sometimes thousands a day.

  6. the NYPD ain't special by Lord+Ender · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Any company with ssh or, really, any common password-protection scheme exposed to the net is going to see thousands of brute-force attempts per day. The majority of the botnet may be in China or Eastern Europe, but that does not indicate that the actual hackers are either Chinese or Russian. It just means those countries have crap IT security overall.

    There is nothing special to see here. The NYPD is inflating its importance, probably for more funding.

    --
    A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.