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Blog Reveals a Chinese Military Hacker's Life Is One of Boredom and Bitterness

Posted by samzenpus on from the I'd-rather-farm-gold dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "People's Liberation Army hackers: they're just like us. As noted by IT security firm Mandiant, and detailed in a new article by The Los Angeles Times, a blogger calling themselves 'Rocy Bird' had posted several hundred blog entries over a three-year period about life as a Chinese military hacker. It wasn't the most exciting existence. He worked a normal workday—8 A.M. until 5:30 P.M., unless some project required late hours—and lived in a dorm. He dined often on instant noodles and enjoyed the television series 'Prison Break.' He spent lots of time online, even when off the clock. And like millions of people all over the world, he disliked many aspects of his job. 'What I can't understand is why all the work units are located in the most remote areas of the city,' the hacker, who the Times identified as having the family name Wang, wrote in a portion of a blog posting reprinted by the paper. 'I really don't get what those old guys are thinking in the beginning. They should at least take us young people into consideration. How can passionate young people like us handle a prison-like environment like this?'"

1 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. So lets recap shall we? by OhANameWhatName · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A computer security firm 'found' a blog whose source cannot be verified. The content of the blog, apparently written by a specialist computer security agent of the Chinese government, talked about:

    - The Chinese military
    - The Chinese leadership
    - Hacking techniques
    - Hacking targets
    - Lifestyles of government employed hackers

    And was derisive. The Chinese government didn't happen to notice that one of their military intelligence agents living in a military dorm was regularly posting derisive and secret information for 3 years. Just to state the bleedingly obvious here, but this would never happen in the US and the Chinese are much stricter on information control.

    So do you trust the Los Angeles Times and a private security agency pitching for government contracts, or ... common sense?

    Take the red pill.