Hackers Flex Growing Cyber Muscle in China

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=2789550

By Doug Young
May 21, 2003

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Trojan horses don't just rear their heads in 
ancient Greek mythology, as Chinese Internet search engine Baidu 
learned the hard way.

In a classic assault, hackers launched a carefully planned attack on 
the firm last week by first installing a rogue program on computers 
used by one of its trading partners.

That program soon began calling on Baidu's Web site at a rate of more 
than 1,000 times per second, effectively blocking out everyone else 
for 60 hours.

The Baidu case, chronicled this week on an official Chinese Web site, 
was just one in a growing tide of cyber attacks against Chinese firms, 
whose rapid computerization and relative lack of technological savvy 
make them particularly vulnerable.

A staggering 84 percent of firms in China reported at least one cyber 
attack this year, up from 59 percent in 2002, according to a recent 
survey by Evans Data Corp.

The survey found that nearly 60 percent of Chinese respondents 
experienced three or more attacks in the last year.

"It's quite prolific," said Eric Ashdown, director of Ernst & Young's 
technology and security risk services practice for China.

"Most of it is not very serious. Some of it will be people going after 
intellectual property or financial gain...Most sites are hacked 
because most firms have no security."

Computer security experts and observers blame the growing number of 
cyber attacks on several factors, most importantly China's relative 
inexperience with technology.

They also cite an environment where intellectual property theft and 
corporate spying are widespread, as offenders often escape with just a 
slap on the wrist and some activity even appears to be condoned and 
supported at official levels.

PREVENTION 101

Many firms fail to take some of the most basic protective steps, such 
as changing default passwords when they install new software and 
staying up to date on so-called software "patches" used to close newly 
discovered program loopholes.

"The primary problem is that most of the enterprises and organizations 
are unprotected, just totally unprotected," said Paul Serrano, senior 
director of marketing for the Asia Pacific region of NetScreen 
Technologies Inc.

Evans Data analyst Esther Schindler said the inexperience factor may 
also be an issue. According to an Evans survey last year, the average 
Chinese programmer had about four years of experience compared with 16 
in North America.

Chinese firms may also use pirated software containing hidden 
"backdoors" and older software that is more vulnerable to attack, said 
Allan Paller, research director of the U.S.-based System 
Administration, Networking and Security Institute.

Ashdown said China's weak enforcement of anti-hacking laws is also a 
problem in a culture where firms often escape with minor penalties for 
serious infractions.

But at a more basic level, he said, many foreign firms believe Beijing 
may actually promote hacking, both actively and passively, in its 
enthusiasm to control information.

He said many believe Chinese public security officials employ hackers 
when it is in their interest, and that state-mandated encryption 
software contains backdoors making systems vulnerable.

"The suspicion is the government has a heavy hand and people have a 
concern that they are more exposed if they use the government 
product," he said.

(Additional reporting by Elinor Abreu in San Francisco)



-
ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org

To unsubscribe email majordomo () attrition org with 'unsubscribe isn'
in the BODY of the mail.