Pro-Democracy Websites In Hong Kong Targeted With and Serving Malware

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Pro-Democracy Websites In Hong Kong Targeted With and Serving Malware

Posted by timothy on Sunday October 12, 2014 @08:31AM from the you'd-like-things-like-this-to-be-shocking dept.

An anonymous reader writes A threat campaign tracking report released by Volexity shows that a number of high profile websites related to the Hong Kong democracy movement have been infected with malware. This malware targets both the web servers themselves as well as website visitors. The sophistication and scope of the malware likely points to government involvement as has been the case in previous campaigns targeting Asian charities and government reform organizations.

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Not invented there by gmuslera · 2014-10-12 08:54 · Score: 0

The NSA did it before, and keep doing it.
1. Re:Not invented there by dunkindave · 2014-10-12 09:54 · Score: 2
  
  Not invented there
  To be picky, the showing of prior art does not prove the creators of the identified prior art were the original inventors. There are many cases that predate the one you cite. In this case, perhaps the Chinese did invent it and the NSA copied them.
  Gee, I crack myself up sometimes.
2. Re:Not invented there by letherial · 2014-10-12 10:06 · Score: 0
  
  No this is 'merica and we lead the world in spying on its own citizens, the only proof you need is its 'merica and nobody out does us.
  Infact sir, by you even suggesting that our commy "friends" didnt copy us, well your just anti-merica and your probably a terrorist, and a commy, thats like double anti patrotic...you socialist nazi
Clearly Western Interference by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-12 08:57 · Score: 0

That's clearly western interference. It couldn't be that freedom is contagious.
1. Re:Clearly Western Interference by ozduo · 2014-10-12 09:13 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  please give me citation of a country where Democracy brought freedom to the masses.
  
  --
  I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.
2. Re:Clearly Western Interference by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-12 09:27 · Score: 0
  
  democracy, you tool, is a product of and protector of freedom.
3. Re:Clearly Western Interference by ihtoit · 2014-10-12 09:31 · Score: 1
  
  uh... no, that was bought with the blood of patriots the same way regime change has always happened anywhere in the entire history of civilisation.
  
  --
  Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
4. Re:Clearly Western Interference by Opportunist · 2014-10-12 09:40 · Score: 1, Troll
  
  If that's true, it really failed badly.
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
5. Re:Clearly Western Interference by r.freeman · 2014-10-12 10:00 · Score: 2
  
  please give me citation of a country where Democracy brought freedom to the masses.
  Very good question. Democracy destroys freedoms everywhere, does not bring it. NSA, war on drugs, war on alcohol, war on sharing files - are all brought on by democratic government bodies, funded by democratically assigned taxes, and then other countries copy this laws also by democratic governmnets.
6. Re:Clearly Western Interference by r.freeman · 2014-10-12 10:02 · Score: 2
  
  America
  LOL. What freedom, in America? The freedom to be arrested for filiming police, or for using on own body substances some assholes deemed illegal?
7. Re:Clearly Western Interference by r.freeman · 2014-10-12 10:03 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  democracy, you tool, is a product of and protector of freedom.
  No, democracy is the tool that took away all our freedoms. Who do you think create NSA or DMCA - a king? A dictator? An anarchy? Or a democracy?
8. Re:Clearly Western Interference by dunkindave · 2014-10-12 10:40 · Score: 2
  
  Who do you think create NSA or DMCA - a king? A dictator? An anarchy? Or a democracy?
  A republic, where the authorized representatives have been corrupted by the corporate state. There hasn't been a country operating as a real democracy in over a couple thousand years. Everytime you see a country called a democracy it is really a republic.
9. Re:Clearly Western Interference by the+gnat · 2014-10-13 03:41 · Score: 1
  
  please give me citation of a country where Democracy brought freedom to the masses.
  I think most of the citizens of former Warsaw Pact nations would agree that they're freer now that they can elect their own leaders instead of being de-facto provinces of Greater Russia.
10. Re:Clearly Western Interference by TangoMargarine · 2014-10-13 04:52 · Score: 1
  
  -1 America Is Not A Country
  
  --
  Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
11. Re:Clearly Western Interference by HeckRuler · 2014-10-13 08:16 · Score: 1
  
  Most of "the west", ie, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, etc. Remember that BEFORE democracy, their government were run by kings. The people were literally owned, and simply part of the land. Their options were limited to "till the fields or die". France had that big clusterfuck with all the heads rolling and the time of terrors afterwards, but eventually things were better for the masses because they had additional freedoms. This sentiment spread to the rest of Europe and was a defining force in the formation of the USA, who had a fantastic amount of freedom compared to their contemporaries at the time (which time? Most of them).
  Despite the steps back (and the era of the robber barons), the USA still has a high degree of freedom for it's citizens. If you question that, I think you need to travel more. Like, say, to Hong Kong or China.
12. Re:Clearly Western Interference by HeckRuler · 2014-10-13 08:27 · Score: 2
  
  How about the freedom to sue the police after being wrongfully arrested for filming police and win in the courts or have a settlement worth millions?
  And dude, heroin is a terrible drug. One with sociological ramifications. We don't really want something like England's East India Company to have another war. It's not the individualist's paradise that you seem to think it is. It DOES matter what my neighbor does. But yeah, sure, we're learning that it's better not to criminalize some things.
13. Re:Clearly Western Interference by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-13 22:18 · Score: 0
  
  government workers are safe from being sued for doing their jobs. They are immune from civil suits.
14. Re:Clearly Western Interference by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-13 22:21 · Score: 0
  
  I can download movies all day long in China, Much freeer
15. Re:Clearly Western Interference by HeckRuler · 2014-10-14 06:30 · Score: 1
  
  Unless you get caught. Worse, if you get caught downloading any movies with "subversive overtones".
  And pft, you can download movies all day long in the USA too.
Fuck the CCP by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-12 09:50 · Score: 0

Fuck the CCP
1. Re:Fuck the CCP by Tablizer · 2014-10-12 14:01 · Score: 1
  
  Let's punish them by buying their trinkets at Walmart. That'll show 'em!
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
Foolish by freeze128 · 2014-10-12 09:51 · Score: 4, Insightful

That move seems just really childish for a government. Couldn't the government just take down the DNS entries of those sites, rather than install malware? Also, this will only help to legitimize the pro-democracy movement. It makes more sense that this was done by script kiddies with an agenda.
1. Re:Foolish by Tablizer · 2014-10-12 10:16 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Indeed. The Chinese Government must have read "How Not to Tick Off a Large City", and did the opposite of the advice. Why would anyone want to go back to being governed by a cheating bully?
  (Other than at gun-point, which it may come down to now.)
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
2. Re:Foolish by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2014-10-12 10:36 · Score: 2
  
  If you just take them down, you get nothing, not even traffic data. If you distribute malware, you get continued tracking of people who visited, possibly keylogger data, dumps of address books and contact lists, credentials for other accounts, and other fun stuff.
  
  It'd be childish if the 'malware' were just serving pop-up ads or sending herbal viagra spam. The stuff designed for surveillance of infected targets, though, would be an entirely logical intelligence gathering strategy.
3. Re:Foolish by WoOS · 2014-10-12 11:04 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, but with collecting and processing data from the internet the attacker opens himself for attacks. Or how bug-free is the analysis software.
  And once you go illegal it becomes difficult to sue counter-attackers. "Intrusion into government computers" might look strange on a warrant if the perpetrator claims he just shut down a C&C server.
4. Re:Foolish by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2014-10-12 14:39 · Score: 2
  
  I'm...not exactly sure... that the clandestine services of the world are worried about legal exposure incurred in the course of their activities. I certainly can't think of any being bitten in the ass for deploying spyware and it's a matter of public knowledge that it has been done reasonably frequently.
5. Re:Foolish by coaxial · 2014-10-12 16:33 · Score: 1
  
  Couldn't the government just take down the DNS entries of those sites, rather than install malware?
  
  Not if you want to track the people visiting the site.
  
  It makes more sense that this was done by script kiddies with an agenda.
  A little from column A... A little from column B...
6. Re:Foolish by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-12 19:39 · Score: 0
  
  The "Malware" is probably far more insidious than your average malware and will probably do most of the following: monitor all traffic from all devices, calls, sms monitor location, contacts and will most likely give the option of controlling the device, locking the device impersonating the device etc.
  So essentially they control of, what ever devices they have infected with this "Malware" and have full visibility of who the organisers are etc, who I am sure the will quietly incarcerate.
  You're forgetting corporations and the government already monitor all network traffic and calls of persons of interest. They store sms, location, contacts, and call "metadata" of everyone as well. They can control devices whenever necessary. What would they gain by infecting their spy devices with malware?
7. Re:Foolish by jandersen · 2014-10-12 19:39 · Score: 1
  
  That move seems just really childish for a government. Couldn't the government just take down the DNS entries of those sites, rather than install malware? Also, this will only help to legitimize the pro-democracy movement. It makes more sense that this was done by script kiddies with an agenda.
  Indeed. Whatever one can say for or against the Chinese government, fools they are not. And whatever one can say about the CIA/NSA or whatever they are called these days, fanatical proponents of freedom and democracy wouldn't' top the list. My expectation of the Chinese government is that they wish to deal with these problems calmly and pragmatically, whereas the American secret services have a track record for stirring up shit. I may be wrong, of course.
  Democracy is a very good idea, even for a government. It is much easier to govern a nation, if the citizens feel they are stakeholders rather than captives. The Chinese government are well aware of this, and as far as I can tell from me more than 10 years of regular travel to China, the majority of Chinese have a lot of faith in their central government. The protests that keep occurring are generally against corrupt local officials colluding with rich business owners; I think people in America recognize the situation.
  The problem with democracy is not that it is unpredictable (as Americans will know, it is very easy to manipulate, any way), but that it takes a long time to educate people about what it is and how it works. Democracy didn't happen overnight in Europe - it several generations for it to unfold, and embarrassingly, it was still being discussed whether it was a good idea at all up towards WWII. On that background, I think it is optimistic, not to say hopelessly naive, to imagine that China could just say, "Yeah, OK, we'll start having democracy tomorrow". Just look around in the world and see how often that has simply ended in civil war, because the osing factions didn't get what they wanted, or because the winners on think about what benefits their own supporters. Democracy can not work, unless everybody understands the implications and are willing to accept that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose; and that whoever wins has to govern for the benefit of the whole of the population, even their opponents.
  Is Hong Kong there yet? Have the population been educated to accept the rules of the game yet? I don't know - but if we in the West, and especially the American secret services, keep fanning the flames of unrest, then it will never happen. No government can sit idle by and let protest become civil war.
Foolish by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-12 11:49 · Score: 1

The "Malware" is probably far more insidious than your average malware and will probably do most of the following: monitor all traffic from all devices, calls, sms monitor location, contacts and will most likely give the option of controlling the device, locking the device impersonating the device etc.
So essentially they control of, what ever devices they have infected with this "Malware" and have full visibility of who the organisers are etc, who I am sure the will quietly incarcerate.
Government Services by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-12 13:18 · Score: 0

In communist China, government welfare includes malware services for the people.
But if Democracy comes to China... by srobert · 2014-10-12 14:56 · Score: 2

My portfolio started taking a beating when these democracy agitators started causing trouble in Hong Kong. If Beijing doesn't do something to stamp this out, it could eventually lead to democratic rule in China. Labor activist will start demanding western style salaries and living standards and voting and such. Something really needs to be done about this so as to avoid labor costs getting out of control.
1. Re:But if Democracy comes to China... by DNS-and-BIND · 2014-10-12 23:23 · Score: 1
  
  Stop inventing imaginary scenarios. You're talking out your ass and have no idea what you're saying. While you weren't paying attention, the days of cheap labor in China ceased several years ago. The buzz these days is all about Vietnam and Burma. I say again, STOP inventing points of view from imaginary people you aren't familiar with, just because it fits your narrative.
  
  --
  Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
2. Re:But if Democracy comes to China... by HeckRuler · 2014-10-13 03:25 · Score: 1
  
  My portfolio started taking a beating when these democracy agitators started causing trouble in Hong Kong.
  Ah, so this is an obvious troll. Or at least the tongue-in-cheek sarcasm pointing out some of the more nefarious mentality that's probably going on in the upper echelons of US business. It's getting hard these days to tell the difference, and idiots like DNS-BIND can't read sarcasm. Poe's law is in effect.
  
  so as to avoid labor costs getting out of control.
  Just so everyone else is aware, the Chinese workers have steadily been earning more for years, and as they get more powerful, they'll want more rights/control/political power. The higher salary comes first, then the living standards, and now voting. And everything is in tiny little steps. Which is probably for the best. Nobody in their right mind wants giant sweeping changes that disrupts everything.
  Sometimes you have to invite the trolls to tea.
3. Re:But if Democracy comes to China... by TangoMargarine · 2014-10-13 04:55 · Score: 1
  
  "You vill have communism...or ve vill give you tank."
  
  --
  Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
4. Re:But if Democracy comes to China... by srobert · 2014-10-13 07:02 · Score: 1
  
  I like to think it's more "tongue-in-cheek sarcasm" than a troll. The google charts you point to indicate that Chinese workers income is rising. But it's still a fraction of what workers in the U.S. make at current exchange rates. Sarcasm-off, I'd actually like to see both democracy in China AND living standards for working people everywhere rising. My post was to poke fun at those who see the rising call for democracy as a threat to capitalism-as we-know-it.
1% woes, not allowed to rip people off by raymorris · 2014-10-12 16:37 · Score: 1

Wow, the problems of the world's 1%. If someone catches you ripping off their work, they can have you stop doing so. Poor little you.
Take a look at the world beyond your own room one day. You're not even seeing your neighbor, who spent a year working on yhe song that you ripped off rather than tossing your dollar in to buy it, much less seeing the actual suffering around the world.
Duh by koan · 2014-10-12 23:04 · Score: 1

Is there anyone here that didn't see that coming?

--
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
It's simple to proof yourselves vs. this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-13 01:05 · Score: 0

0.0.0.0 java-se.com
0.0.0.0 dns.apasms.com
0.0.0.0 ns.gpass1.org
0.0.0.0 ns1.gpass1.org
0.0.0.0 gpass1.org
0.0.0.0 985.so
0.0.0.0 www.procommons.org.hk
0.0.0.0 procommons.org.hk
0.0.0.0 www.hotel365.co.kr
0.0.0.0 hotel365.co.kr
* Those lines added to a custom hosts file will cut this thing off easily/no problem...
APK
P.S.=> Security-wise, For FAR more comprehensive coverage vs. this threat & MANY others out there online (as well as more speed from hardcoded favorite sites of yours you add + adbanner blocking, PLUS more reliability vs. downed OR "dns-poisoned" redirected DNS servers), with data from 12 reputable sources in the security community vs. them?
Use this (courtesy of "yours truly", gratis) -> APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit http://start64.com/index.php?o...
... apk
Complete list (added 7 more, 19 total)... apk by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-13 01:13 · Score: 0

0.0.0.0 jdk-7u12-windows-i586.java-se.com
0.0.0.0 jduhf873jdu7.blog.163.com
0.0.0.0 blog.163.com
0.0.0.0 163.com
0.0.0.0 elsa-jp.jp
0.0.0.0 www.nikkei.com
0.0.0.0 asia.nikkei.com
0.0.0.0 parts.nikkei.com
0.0.0.0 nikkei.com
0.0.0.0 java-se.com
0.0.0.0 dns.apasms.com
0.0.0.0 ns.gpass1.org
0.0.0.0 ns1.gpass1.org
0.0.0.0 gpass1.org
0.0.0.0 985.so
0.0.0.0 www.procommons.org.hk
0.0.0.0 procommons.org.hk
0.0.0.0 www.hotel365.co.kr
0.0.0.0 hotel365.co.kr
* Sorry about that folks (for those of you that are interested) - need to have my a.m. coffee...
( TOTAL OF 19 SITES/SERVERS ARE INVOLVED IN THIS MALWARE... that's the complete list above! )
APK
P.S.=> Those are in addition to the those I initially posted originally here -> http://politics.slashdot.org/c...
... apk
No solid proof, only Schneier's allegations of it by sethstorm · 2014-10-13 01:21 · Score: 2

Schneier's allegations require that you believe a known non-trustworthy person (Edward Snowden)'s own allegation for that to be true.
When all of that can be brought to bear in a US court with Snowden et al in custody, then you can start talking about it as truth when it is proven to be truth.

--
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.