Chinese Propaganda Accidentally Reveals Cyberwar

An anonymous reader writes "A Chinese military propaganda video aired in mid-July inadvertently showed a Chinese military university launching cyberattacks against U.S. websites. The Epoch Times reports the video shows 'custom-built Chinese software apparently launching a cyber-attack against the main website of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, by using a compromised IP address belonging to a United States university.' A screen in the video also reveals 'the name of the software and the Chinese university that built it, the Electrical Engineering University of China's People's Liberation Army.'"

Comments

Script kiddies, seriously China?

[elrous0]

Apparently China's best and brightest hackers need a GUI with drop-down menus and a big "Attack" button.

The sleeping dragon is strong indeed. I wonder if they have a "Pull trigger to fire" sticker on their rifles too.

Re:Script kiddies, seriously China?

[gnick]

Blatant sub-kiddie-script level hacking by the Chinese government (possibly the best funded cyber-warfare division on the planet) against the Falun Gong being "exposed" by a web site created by the Falun Gong? I wonder why my Spidey-Sense is tingling?

Re:Script kiddies, seriously China?

[osu-neko]

Blatant sub-kiddie-script level hacking by the Chinese government (possibly the best funded cyber-warfare division on the planet) against the Falun Gong being "exposed" by a web site created by the Falun Gong? I wonder why my Spidey-Sense is tingling?

It's good that it's tingling, but I have to say, you don't seriously think the Chinese government is any less incompetent than other governments, do you? I fully expect "the best funded [whatever] of [any world government]" to always look rather primitive and poorly implemented compared to anything I could whip up in five minutes with what I have lying around the house. I have the benefit of not being a committee, after all...

Re:Script kiddies, seriously China?

[Applekid]

Apparently China's best and brightest hackers need a GUI with drop-down menus and a big "Attack" button.

The sleeping dragon is strong indeed. I wonder if they have a "Pull trigger to fire" sticker on their rifles too.

For the same reason not every single soldier knows how to make a rifle from raw materials. It's up to the weapon designers to build it and make it simple for the ground troops to use.

Save the script-resistant sites (opponent military computers, etc) for the special ops, let the butts-in-seats brigade cause general casualties around the commercial non-hardened sites.

Re:Script kiddies, seriously China?

[iamhassi]

probably its an easy way to get research money. You just put some visual basic front end on some readily available tools and convince the military that now every soldier can take part in cyber-warfare. To update the list you as for more research money. To make it portable (html5 front end) you ask for more money.

Are you accusing the Chinese of making elaborate fake software? The Chinese would never sell something that was fake.

Re:Script kiddies, seriously China?

[asdf7890]

Yep. Remember this is the same Government who use top Gun footage as evidence of a successful AA missile deployment test and hoped no-one would notice.

Re:Script kiddies, seriously China?

[Superken7]

Yeah, I thought that too.

But now on second thought, it makes perfect sense.
Skilled hackers can work on new stuff and on more important stuff, while unskilled "soldiers" can just use the tools to cause damage. Remember, not being l33t does not equal not being effective. As we have seen again and again, script kiddies have always been able to do successful attacks. Many defacers, as lame as they are, succeed in their goal of defacing websites. One member scans, another one prepares a message, the other hacks the website and uploads the material, etc..

It becomes apparent that maybe this "section" does not intend to be cool or l337, but effective.

Re:Script kiddies, seriously China?

[DriedClexler]

Based on the summary, it seems like you could at least partly corroborate the video by checking whether the "American university" mentioned really did have that IP address compromised, and who would have known about this when.

Re:Script kiddies, seriously China?

[lennier]

I fully expect "the best funded [whatever] of [any world government]" to always look rather primitive and poorly implemented compared to anything I could whip up in five minutes with what I have lying around the house.

Right, I'm sure you have a full thermonuclear arsenal in your basement. Governments are good at some things, that's how come they get to stay "the government" and not, eg, "the former regime which just got toppled by some guy in a T-shirt and a popgun".

Re:Script kiddies, seriously China?

[drnb]

A kiddie tried to make a joke literally using "Point this side to the enemy" as his punchline. I pointed out that such markings are not jokes, they can be quite real and rational, deadly serious. If you experienced a woosh moment and thought my post was something else, well too bad.

Re:WTF? Pre-post comment.

[elrous0]

Because I'm so fucking awesome I can now post into the future.

Re:WTF? Pre-post comment.

[elrous0]

Okay, actually, this article was originally posted at about 2 pm, but got bumped for the earthquake story. I got the one comment in before it got bumped, apparently.

But I'm still fucking awesome.

Re:WTF? Pre-post comment.

[Dahamma]

And I read his comment right after he posted it, tried to reply, and it was rejected due to an "unknown error". Then the entire article disappeared for an hour.

I was beginning to think Chinese hackers took it down...

Epoch Times founded by Falun Gong

[Anonymous Coward]

There's one detail to bear in mind when you read the article from The Epoch Times.

From wikipedia: The The Epoch Times was founded in 1999 by supporters of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline. [...] The newspaper is heavily critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and policies of the Chinese government.

Re:Epoch Times founded by Falun Gong

[NeutronCowboy]

Good point. However, the entire video is online on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Wu1HlZbBk&feature=youtu.be&t=36s. The interesting bits start at 36 seconds in. Anyone who speaks Chinese care to take a look at the entire thing to check for authenticity? The channel owner who uploaded the youtubee video seems to be fairly pro-China, but who knows... I have no idea what's going on in the entire thing. For all I know, this could be a video for how to create VB apps for a call center.

Re:Epoch Times founded by Falun Gong

[Anonymous Coward]

dude the video comes from state chinese media: http://military.cntv.cn/program/jskj/20110717/100139.shtml

weird

[nomadic]

The Chinese government has a weird obsession with Falun Gong, which I don't quite understand. I was in Flushing, Queens the other week and there was actually this whole (unmanned) table with signs, flyers, etc., blasting the Falun Gong as this insanely dangerous cult. I can't imagine who set it up other than the Chinese government.

Re:weird

[93 Escort Wagon]

A fair number of Chinese students seem to buy into the official party line, part and parcel. Over the past few years we've had some small demonstrations at the University of Washington by these students, protesting US media "lies" regarding Falung Gong, Tibet and/or the Dalai Lama, etc.

Re:weird

[Anonymous Coward]

That's pretty much my reaction about folks who are rabidly against Scientology. I don't get it. Pin someone down as to why they're so against it and they make vague references to someone somewhere being killed or something by a Scientologist. The same can be said about any religion.

Anyway, back to Falun Gong. Here's what a Chinese ex-pat told me.

The Falun Gong very quickly organized tens of thousands of people to gather - doesn't matter that all they did was meditate - and it scared the shit out of the Chinese leadership. The ability to get that many people together that fast and under the noses of the leadership is extremely worrying to them. THAT put them on the leadership's shit list.

It's was interesting how he talked about the Chinese leadership. It was almost like a teenager talking about their overly strict and uptight parents. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be back by eleven - whatever." Rolls eyes.

.... except when they execute someone for something ...

Re:weird

[ElectricTurtle]

Falun Gong calls attention to how the Chinese Communist Party acts in opposition to many traditional Chinese values. This is incredibly seditious considering that the CCP relies on the Chinese achieving more or less blind unity based on what are pushed as shared cultural values.

I was recently watching a CCTV documentary on the Seven Scholars of the Bamboo Grove, and like everything on CCTV I always start wondering 'what is their political angle?' And sure enough, they were primarily focusing on the Seven Scholars deliberate avoidance in politics and how that preserved them when others were being purged for their intrigues. The CCP wants people to avoid politics as much as possible, which includes any criticism of the government.

Falun Gong questions the morality of the government and the CCP within the tradition three dimensional contexts of Chinese morality: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Even though China is a very secular society, these criticisms are very seriously taken by the CCP, which is always living in fear of losing control.

If you're really interested you could look into the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party (which is banned in China) and the Tuidang Movement. Both of which are sourced in Falun Gong and do have an air of propaganda to them at times, but a thinking person can still find useful information even among such chaff.

Re:weird

[couchslug]

Religion is toxic, and one of the great accomplishments of the Maoists was to damage its influence in China.

While it is rare that a national government is in the enviable position to oppose superstition, I support their efforts against backwardness. One day anti-religion may be regarded as visionary.

Re:weird

[shugah]

It's funny - in Vancouver Falun Gong has had a permanent protest camp in front of the Chinese Consul General's compound on Granville Street for 10 years. It caused the city a lot of embarrassment when the city went to court to remove the permanent protest "hut", won at the BC Supreme Court but was over turned on appeal. They went back to the drawing board to draft a new bylaw that would outlaw permanent protest structures in residential neighbourhoods (Consul General is in Shaughnessy - a very wealthy residential neighbourhood) but allowed them in commercial areas. The city was embarrassed again when it came to light that the city manager consulted with the Chinese Consulate on drafting the bylaw. We should allow the Chinese government to advise us on how to handle a free speech? I expect the new bylaw will also be challenged as the consul general promotes trade and issues visas - so if they are conducting commercial activity, regardless of the residential zoning, protest structures should be allowed.

Re:weird

[ElectricTurtle]

I don't like religions either, but if the choice is freedom and religion or neither, I'll keep on tolerating religion.

People may be wrong, but to force them to be right through prosecuting thought crimes is a disgusting dystopia that I will not accept.

Re:weird

[geekoid]

" I don't get it. "
let me spell it out for you:
1) They use a variety of mental tricks to get you to join.
2) They hound there member to go into debt to pay for the next course
3) The pressure people to leave their families
4) When people at to leave, they are harass, as are there friends and family members
5) They spread medical lies that kill people.
6) The use people figures to manipulate the truth about their cult.
7) They abuse the court system in mass when someone says or does something they don't like.
8) They will lie and do anything to back up there 'belief'.

Re:weird

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess what they don't understand is that in free countries we tend to ignore religious organizations no matter how crazy their beliefs may be unless they commit actual crimes (like breaking labor laws, child molestation, tax fraud, etc.). We may worry about malicious cults developing, but that's about it. The simple matter of believing something weird isn't criminal, no matter how whacked out, and most democratic constitutions protect freedom of religion including not practicing any religion at all. It's the actions that matter, not the underlying beliefs. And in that respect Falung Gong is probably less harmful than Scientology, and Scientology still exists, so trying to demonize the Falung Gong movement is going to be pretty futile.

The reality is, the Chinese government is probably more worried about other Chinese students finding out about Falung Gong or other religions while studying abroad, so they feel obliged to encourage students that tow the party line to "protest" and discourage others from even looking. I don't think the audience for the protests is really people in the host country.

There's considerable irony in the fact that China is taking advantage of the fact that protests like these are allowed in free and democratic countries, but probably wouldn't be at home unless they happened to align with party doctrine. They'll happily use freedom of expression in other countries, but goodness no, not at home.

Re:weird

[Jmc23]

actually it is a legit religion, it's an organized set of spiritual beliefs.

You do have to devote timebut not money, so it's not like scientology. You don't even have to devote time to the organization, just to your practive, just like ajy real spiritual practice.

It's based on traditional chinese beliefs and gung fu practices, just with moee of the layers peeled back. Do you know what christianity looks like with the layers peeled back, i.e., what did jesus teach his disciples as oppsed to the ignorant unready masses? Do you know what yoga, buddhism or dao looks lime with the layers peeled back? Li didn't say he was the one and only god, you do know that practically every religion acknowledges the divinity within right?

It is perhaps you who needs to do more research and explore your own spirituality.

Re:weird

[lennier]

That's pretty much my reaction about folks who are rabidly against Scientology. I don't get it.

Oh, so young.

Internet "information must be free" activists' hatred of Scientology dates back to the early days of the Web - mid-1990s, when Usenet was still a thing and you could still use the word "cypherpunk" without irony. The Scientology organisation was extremely litigatious and aggressively used copyright law to attempt to shut down whistleblower sites such as xenu.net. They had tons of money, no love for freedom of information, and more focus on image control than the then-in-power Clinton administration, Worse, they attempted to hack Usenet itself. This was a red rag to the cypher-punks bull and wham, CoS became Enemy #1. This was long before the death of Napster when the RIAA moved into that position, you have to realise. (Do today's young folks even know who Napster were?)

Fast-forward to the more recent Anonymous protests and yeah, I dunno why *that* crowd with their mayfly attention span suddenly woke up and discovered CoS as their three-minute hate of the week. Frankly I don't really think the legitimate anti-CoS protesters like xenu.net really need Anonymous' brand of "help".

But CoS were perhaps the first organisation to really attempt to "declare war on the Internet". Back before the Apple-Google dupooly realised that you could lock down the Net and have people gladly pay to give up their freedoms. So there are long memories.

Does that history lesson help give some context?

Re:weird

[ElectricTurtle]

Oh bloo bloo. It sounds to me like you're an oversensitive little twit who would gladly sacrifice the freedom of others so as to protect your fragile ego. People like you are scummier than the average religious dumbass. As easy and comfortable as it might be to not defend ideas you don't like, you seem awfully upset when people don't like your ideas and single you out. You're a hypocrite.

When Christians judge me I judge them right the fuck back. Between Paul's bigotry and Yahweh's institutionalized genocide and slave rape it's pretty easy to get most fundamentalists hoisted on the own petards after their objective morality meets the Euthyphro Dilemma. As Matt Dilahunty so famously said: "I am more moral than your god."

Re:weird

[Anonymous Coward]

If your argument is true, then the essential claim is that Chinese people are stupider than their western counterparts and cannot distinguish bullshit from truth so the government must step in to save them. That would be believable if the government actually had a historical record of prioritizing people's lives.

Exactly. We westerns are obviously superior to asians, and would never believe silly things like homeopathy or Scientology. They must be really stupid.

Although your hate may make you think otherwise, stupid people are by no means exclusive to any one country.

Re:weird

[omnichad]

Although your hate may make you think otherwise, stupid people are by no means exclusive to any one country.

In the US, though, we're more likely to put them in charge.

Re:Streamlined

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you mean melamine-tainted. Melanin is something else - not an industrial plastic used* to mimic protein for certain chemical tests.

(* also used to make bowls and plates and stuff like that.)

Re:WTF? Pre-post comment.

[sexconker]

...actually, they were the ones who caused the earthquake. Next time, they'll hit DC on the nose. Our base is theirs.

And nothing of value would be lost.

Re:In Republic of China ..

[bluemonq]

Wrong China.

Re:WTF? Pre-post comment.

[Kreigaffe]

actually, if they hit DC, we just declare the disaster so severe that the united states no longer exists -- they killed the beast! -- and then pick up right where we left off with USA2.
Minus all our debt to them.
Because that was USA1.

follow the money

[Lead Butthead]

a fair number of those "students" are funded by PRC government; for them, it's just a job. the roof over their head and the food on their table are paid for by PRC. so really, is it a surprise that they're out in force whenever anyone disagree with the current party line?

Re:follow the money

[Fned]

Probably more like they very non-specifically stop getting paid if they happen not to...

Re:follow the money

[microbox]

This is so naive. The "students" you talk about are actually real students, and they are the chinese analogue of the tea-party. We have the human condition in common with the Chinese. Some people really believe in stuff, and a good indication is how fast their heart beats in there chest when you disagree with them.

Re:follow the money

[microbox]

So, the Left Wing is full of jingoists, and the Tea Party is full of people wanting to find peace in their lives.

Riiiiiggggghhhhhhtttttt.

Re:Duck and cover

[the linux geek]

Less than that. The US has $15tn of total debt, roughly, of which slightly under $1tn is Chinese. Not a particularly impressive figure.

Falun Gong != Branch Davidian

[drnb]

Because it's an anti-government cult set up by the CIA and Taiwanese to destabilize China. Gee, I seem to remember the US government slaughtering the entire "Branch Davidian" cult in the 90s and they are much much smaller than Falun Gong and did not have any backing from foreign intelligence services! Also, Epoch Times is an anti-China propaganda paper. I'd take it about as seriously as a paper from Hitler Youth.

Its hard to take your post seriously either. The Branch Davidians were heavily armed and shot at cops who came onto their property. They also spread flammable liquids all about their bunkered building. Whether they ignited these flammables intentionally or it was accidentally ignited by gov't smoke grenades, gunfire, etc is debatable. The fact remains that the davidians prepped their own building for fire. Get back to us when the Falun Gong go down such a path. AFAICT their crime is believing there is something more authoritative than the Chinese Communist Party.

What else

[drobety]

Asked for a statement, China's People's Liberation Army spokesperson said:

"We do it for the lulz"

Re:Streamlined

[_4rp4n3t]

Thank you fro the correction.

I think you mean....ah, never mind.