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China Admits Anonymous Hacks Occured

Posted by Unknown on from the offenders-shall-perish dept.

New submitter SolKeshNaranek writes "After Anonymous hacked hundreds of Chinese government, company, and other general websites, China has acknowledged the attacks. Meanwhile, Anonymous China has not stopped its onslaught. 'A few targets have had their administrator accounts, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses posted publicly. Last but not least, on many of the hacked sites, the group even posted tips for how to circumvent the Great Firewall of China. While Anonymous was not specifically mentioned, it's obvious what China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was referring to during a briefing on Thursday, given the events during the last week.'"

33 comments

  1. html defacing .. big deal? by Sebastopol · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I am not a hacker.

    Is defacing a website a big deal? Or just the equivalent of spray-paint tagging?

    --
    https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
    1. Re:html defacing .. big deal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's like breaking into the lobby of a bank and spray painting the windows from the inside, so not a terrible thing on the surface, but potentially bad depending on how secure the rest of the bank is from the lobby.

    2. Re:html defacing .. big deal? by Kneo24 · · Score: 1

      This is where you and I disagree. I'm not even looking at this from a "legal" vs "illegal" perspective. Generally speaking, I do not believe website tagging is okay under any circumstances, even when doing this to people, institutions, or countries I may not be fond of. If the people of China do not like the censorship, they need to change the ruling class's minds one way or another.

    3. Re:html defacing .. big deal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not even remotely close. It's like breaking into the lobby of the bank, tying up all the tellers, and replacing them with people who tell the visitors your manifesto when they come in to do their banking. And/or possibly copy down their account information when they try to make a transaction. And maybe find the teller's passwords written on notes underneath their keyboards. A pretty bad thing on the surface, and possibly terrible, depending on how secure the bank's computer system is.

    4. Re:html defacing .. big deal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This is where you and I disagree. I'm not even looking at this from a "legal" vs "illegal" perspective. Generally speaking, I do not believe website tagging is okay under any circumstances, even when doing this to people, institutions, or countries I may not be fond of. If the people of China do not like the censorship, they need to change the ruling class's minds one way or another.

      The below is just my opinion and only my opinion. I am not suggesting anybody do something illegal. Don't break the law. Now then, having covered my ass from our overzealous legal system run by tyrants, I will tell you how I feel about it when people do it anyway. The more of an asshole it happens to and the more obscene the tagging is the more I like it. I like it even more when it's severe downtime that really costs $$$ like what happened to Sony's network. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving organization of dicks who thought they'd never, ever suffer any consequences from being a bunch of dicks.

      The notion that being a dick and constantly causing problems for other people makes you a target for their vengence is a GOOD THING. Stop trying to discard it. It's one of the few forces keeping order in the world. There are certain powerful people and organizations that are totally untouchable otherwise.

      You can rant about "vigilantism" etc all you like, but unless there are effective legal remedies that are available to the average person then you are merely being an idealist. In the real world you are not going to take a multinational corporation to court and win. They are nearly invincible and effectively untouchable unless you are very wealthy and want to dedicate years of your life to the task knowing you still might lose.

      I am sorry but if you cannot accept that the world has ugly necessities then you don't have the guts to do so and I sincerely hope you are never faced with a truly difficult decision with no ideal solution because you are the wrong man for the job.

    5. Re:html defacing .. big deal? by Kneo24 · · Score: 1

      See, this points out a lot of problems. Perhaps I am just a dreamer. I realize that due to the nature of people shit happens that I, nor you, nor anyone else will necessarily agree with. People will find all sorts of reasons to justify their actions or another persons actions.

      How Sony treats its consumers is disgusting. I also think in the hacking scenario they got what they deserved, but I don't agree with the hacking either. It was just desserts, but in the end it probably won't change how Sony does business. If everyone would just stop buying Sony products, they as a company wont exist anymore and that would be far more fulfilling to see than some hacking that causes them and their uses some grief.

      In the end, I think all the hacking did was poke a hornet's nest. It won't change anything Sony does. Hacking China's websites won't change how they operate either. In both of these cases, did Sony or China even get the message that was trying to be sent to them? Do they even care about the message?

    6. Re:html defacing .. big deal? by buchner.johannes · · Score: 2

      Except these are not banks that have been hacked into, nor sites with thousands of users with accounts.

      --
      NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
  2. The perfect cover by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Of course they acknowledge the hacks. There is nothing better for the government of China than to have a large group of hackers known to exist in China. It gives them the perfect cover and defense for their own hacking program. Now if something gets hacked and the hack is traced back to China, the government doesn't have to deny that a hack took place; they can just point to these hackers. The government now has a scapegoat for the next time they get caught hacking.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    1. Re:The perfect cover by game+kid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As an added bonus it gives them an excuse to (try to) make the Great Firewall even tighter (and if you're wise enough to oppose their tighter controls they can just say "what are you...one of them anti-patriotic hackers!?" as they confiscate your machine and send you to labor).

      --
      You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
    2. Re:The perfect cover by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      It isn't merely that: there is no reason to suspect that all of the hackers were domestic(anybody seriously think that some free range script kiddie who suspects that the security of random Chinese websites is as bad or worse than random American ones, and the FBI doesn't care about them nearly as much, wouldn't have a try?), which allows them to do the "Oh, look, many nation-states and corporations are victimized by hackers, just like us, alas." line(which is certainly not false, but reports suggest that damage received and damage dealt are not entirely symmetric).

    3. Re:The perfect cover by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol

      We all know its them whatever they say......

    4. Re:The perfect cover by RobertinXinyang · · Score: 2

      You don't entirely get it, acknowledging the attacks feeds into the official line that China is always under attack.

      China is an extremely nationalistic country that continually repeats to its people "China is a very poor country that is under constant attack and must continually allow the Government to provide for its defense at any cost." Thus, any opposition to the Government is seen as actions against The Nation in the face of the enemy.

  3. Occured? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Occured? What was cured?

    1. Re:Occured? by RoknrolZombie · · Score: 1

      Oc was, apparently, can't you read?

  4. I for one welcome our Chinese Overlords by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    I for one welcome our Chinese Overlords *** SIGNAL LOST ****

    So much for the Great Mudwall of China.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  5. Occured by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    or is Occurred?

  6. How convenient by HangingChad · · Score: 1

    How convenient Anonymous took a sudden interest in China, which has been engaging in high level industrial espionage and spying for years. The timing is pretty convenient. How do you like some foreign government mucking around in your computers, bitches?

    If you were the government launching a cyberattack, how would you spin it? Maybe by pinning it on a shadowy group operating outside the control of government? Hanging it on Anonymous makes it deniable.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
    1. Re:How convenient by circletimessquare · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, and 9/11 was an inside job, we never landed on the moon, Obama is a secret Communist Muslim, Roosevelt knew about Pearl Harbor beforehand, etc., etc.

      Paranoid schizophrenia is a sad disease.

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    2. Re:How convenient by Mongo+T.+Oaf · · Score: 0

      I have a friend, a former professional pilot. He was fired from his job because he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He believes that the Apollo 11 show was filmed in China. Now that we have cameras that can take pictures of objects on the moon from earth, I told him that most of the Apollo 11 debris can be photographed. He claims that the debris was "shot up there" in the 90's. There is no winning with this guy. Paranoid schizophrenia is a sad disease, yes, very. He now lives in the woods.

    3. Re:How convenient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obama is a secret Communist Muslim

      Did you forgot about Rev Wright? Obama is obviously a secret Radical Christian Communist Muslim

    4. Re:How convenient by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

      You forgot to qualify the most important betrayal here:

      Obama is obviously a secret Radical Christian Communist Muslim born in Kenya.

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    5. Re:How convenient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I also know of an airline 747 pilot who believes in chemtrails... I still find it hard to believe someone hired that joker.

  7. It would be much more constructive if... by maroberts · · Score: 1

    ...they devoted their talents to opening up the Great Firewall.

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

  8. I don't understand your point by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Assad blames terrorists.

    Putin blames foreign meddling.

    An abusive husband/ boyfriend blames his wife's/ girlfriend's choice of dress.

    Etc., etc.

    Abusers everywhere always have a convenient excuse to be an abuser.

    So I don't understand what the point of your post is. They will ALWAYS have an excuse. Is your point that if Anonymous didn't do what they did the Chinese Govt would go "we found no excuse today to deny Chinese people their freedoms so we're letting them express themselves freely now."

    Seriously, what is your point? There is ALWAYS a scapegoat.

    Pointing out that an abuser has an excuse or can find an excuse is completely useless. Explaining their excuse is useless. It's still just an excuse, and they can always find one. A scapegoat requires no effort and can be imagined in any way possible. Logic and reason is no limitation.

    So please explain to me what the point of your post is?

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:I don't understand your point by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      So please explain to me what the point of your post is?

      Did you grow up with a sibling, or perhaps a family pet? If you ever broke something in the house growing up, or drew on the wall, or whatever, you could blame your sister, or the dog. Now, that excuse isn't going to work very well if you're an only child or have no pet, is it? By admitting these attacks, if the Chinese government is ever accused of undertaking or spearheading a hacking campaign, they can say "it wasn't us. We have a large number of hackers within the country, it was probably one of them". It's a lot easier to pass on responsibility to a group when it's already been made public that they exist.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  9. Obligatory XKCD by jdrugo · · Score: 1

    http://xkcd.com/932/

  10. I recall... by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    I recall a slashdot story years ago that stated that hackers were found in a study to be below average at securing their own systems because they have a feeling that they're "too smart" and "above" getting hit by their own tactics (and they run pirated copies of XP pro). I guess they were correct, lol.

  11. Again, I don't understand your point by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    Are you trying to tell me that if there was no attack by Anonymous the Chinese Government could find no excuse to deny the Chinese people their freedom of expression and would just let free expression reign?

    Is that what you are trying to say?

    If your answer is no, then why do you think they need an excuse to do what they would do no matter what?

    And why do you think the excuse they use even matters?

    The point is to vilify the GOVERNMENT'S behavior. The way you think, it seems that because someone defies an abuser, they get what they deserve from the abuser. Is that what you think? No? Then why is it so important to you to not give an abuser a reason to make a convenient excuse? Why are you criticizing the actions of those fighting for freedom, and why are you not criticizing the abuser?

    It seems like you, and other people posting here, seem to have the psychology of the victim and the slave motivating your thoughts: "don't give the abuser a reason to hit me, and if he hits me, you are to blame, for giving him a reason to hit me." This is the way the chronically abused think. The possibility of defying and defeating the abuser does not occur to them. So they are angry at anyone who tries to stop the abuser, rather than the abuser himself/ herself.

    Why don't you point your criticism AT THE ABUSER DOING THE HITTING. That would be the Chinese Government, thinking that it has the right to control the thoughts of Chinese people. NOT ANONYMOUS.

    Wake up. You perspective is seriously flawed.

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  12. Of course they acknowledged the attacks by Karmashock · · Score: 2

    It legitimizes further crack downs and more control.

    Look at what terrorists did to the US FBI, CIA, etc? It justified just about anything. And the chinese need that justification because their security ambitions are always about 1000 times more involved.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  13. "Occurred" not "occured" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dude.

  14. Only 32 Comments? by retroworks · · Score: 1

    As journalist Adam Minter (Bloomberg, Shanghai) wrote, the reach of the Chinese Internet censors, while generally exaggerated in the Western Press, can reach pretty deeply when so motivated. The main focus of Chinese internet censorship recently went to COMMENTS to microblogs. In this week's article, "Chinese Internet Censors Decide Comments are Dangerous" http://tinyurl.com/82fpyv8 he describes how the rumors of a Beijing Coup last month were dealt with by erasing comment fields... Like these in Slashdot. (initially China cut off all "comments" functions, then allowed them back but began censoring them).

    That could have a chilling effect on people leaving comments and expressing themselves in Weibo (China's Twitter). Perhaps the graffiti by Anonymous is important in reassuring people whose comments are erased that the censors are not invincible. Then again, there are only 32 comments on this /. post... maybe they ARE invincible?

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    Gently reply