Hack Tibet

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/12/04/hack_tibet_china_cyberwar

By Jonathan Kaiman
foreignpolicy.com
DECEMBER 4, 2013

DHARAMSALA, India -- Lobsang Gyatso Sither sits at the front of a Tibetan 
school auditorium, the bright rectangle of his PowerPoint presentation 
dimly illuminating the first few rows of students before him. "Never open 
attachments unless you are expecting them," Sither says. The students nod. 
A portrait of the Dalai Lama hangs above the stage, framed by flickering 
electronic candles; a stray dog ambles behind the crowd. "Never give 
anyone else your passwords," Sither says, clicking to a new slide, which 
explains the dangers of using an unfamiliar thumb drive. "The Chinese 
government or others could take control of your computer."

Welcome to Dharamsala, population 20,000 and one of the most hacked places 
in the world. This small city in India's lush Himalayan foothills is home 
to the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader; the Central 
Tibetan Administration, or CTA (formerly called the Tibetan government in 
exile); and a host of Tibetan media outlets and nongovernmental 
organizations, some of which the Chinese government classifies as 
terrorist groups. The Dalai Lama fled here in 1959 after communist troops 
violently suppressed an uprising in Lhasa, now the capital of western 
China's Tibetan Autonomous Region. India embraced the Dalai Lama as a 
token of religious diversity, and tens of thousands of refugees followed 
suit. About 130,000 Tibetans live in exile, according to a 2009 census; 
Dharamsala is the closest thing they have to a political capital.

The city has an ancient feel. Homes cling to precipitous mountain roads 
that weave through dense cedar forests; macaque monkeys prance among the 
rooftops. Yet it is changing, moving cautiously into the future. Computers 
have become ubiquitous. Roadside cafes offer double espressos and wireless 
Internet (common passwords include "FreeTibet" and "Independence"). Young 
Tibetans are snapping up iPhones, which, unlike competing devices, offer 
the option of a Tibetan-language keyboard.

Communication between the city's Tibetan community and Tibet itself is 
easier than it has ever been. Yet the risk of dialing home has never been 
greater. "If we don't use secure lines of communication, Tibetans in Tibet 
could be prosecuted" for sending sensitive information abroad, says 
Sither, a field coordinator for the Tibet Action Institute, a New 
York-based nonprofit that sponsors education initiatives and trains 
activists on secure communications systems.

[...]



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