Re: [iwar] Is China's Guandong province ground zero for hackers?

From: Brian McWilliams (brian@pc-radio.com)
Date: 2001-09-01 06:00:44

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From: Brian McWilliams <brian@pc-radio.com>
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Date: Sat, 01 Sep 2001 09:00:44 -0400
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Subject: Re: [iwar] Is China's Guandong province ground zero for hackers?
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Vamosis's article is interesting speculation, but in the case of Code Red, 
there's evidence China *wasn't* ground zero:

http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/169636.html

China and Korea are renowned for having lots of easily compromised systems 
with non-existent system administrators. What's to say some kid from Fargo 
isn't using Guangdong as his launch pad?

Brian


At 02:46 AM 9/1/01, Fred Cohen wrote:
>Is China's Guandong province ground zero for hackers?
>
>By Robert Vamosi, AnchorDesk, 8/31/2001
>http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20010830/tc/is_china_s_guandong_province_ground_zero_for_hackers__1.html
>
>Last week, while discussing new priorities for the Department of Defense
>(news - web sites), Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told the
>Washington Post that "serious moves to transform the military to meet
>such emerging threats as computer warfare, terrorism and missile
>proliferation will not produce new war-fighting capabilities for a
>number of years." Although paraphrased, it sounds to me like Secretary
>Rumsfeld just told our enemies that we're years away from defending
>ourselves against cyberterrorism.  Oops.  Now is not the time to admit
>weakness in this area, Mr.  Secretary.
>
>Quietly, the U.S.  government had been hacking away at cyberterrorism.
>The EP-3E spy plane that crash-landed in China earlier this year was,
>according to James Bamford in his keynote speech at this year's Black
>Hat Briefing, working for the National Security Agency.  Even the 1999
>war in Kosovo featured early information warfare techniques against the
>Serbian government.  A recent report by MSNBC explains the emerging
>global information warfare threat in greater detail.  If the secretary
>is serious about transforming the U.S.  defense department, then let me
>suggest that it is much more prudent to shore up our computer networks
>today than to invest in the 20-year-old concept of laser-toting
>satellites orbiting the earth tomorrow: Our computer networks are
>already under serious attack.
>
>HOSTILE NATIONS, and for that matter, hostile groups, such as Osama bin
>Laden (news - web sites)'s followers, realize they can't challenge the
>U.S.  military one-on-one.  But they can disrupt our utilities, our
>telecommunications, and our e-commerce.  Just last spring, during a
>period of rolling blackouts in Northern California, someone hacked into
>the California Independent System Operators system, which regulates the
>flow of power in the state.  The malicious users were stopped before
>they caused any damage, but the incident shows how vulnerable our
>ancillary government agencies are to attack.  The hack was traced back
>to the Guangdong province in China.  Turns out, this was not an isolated
>incident.
>
>A few weeks ago, I wrote that students at Foshan University in
>Guangdong, China, may have created the Code Red worm.  Shortly after
>that column appeared, someone at the Defense Department called me with a
>serious interest in that information.  Now, the recent and very nasty
>Offensive Trojan horse also happens to share a connection to Guangdong.
>I don't think this is a coincidence.
>
>Guangdong is the largest and wealthiest province, and Hainan Island, the
>site where the American EP-3E plane was held after landing last April,
>is nearby.  According to a report prepared by the security company
>Vigilinx, Guangdong is also home to hacker groups, such as the Honker
>Union of China (also known as the Red Guest Alliance) and China Eagle,
>and to criminal extortionists who have been terrorizing Hong Kong's
>financial networks for years.  Guangdong also happens to be very
>beautiful, historic, and the focus of major Western investment and
>tourism.
>
>RATHER THAN ASSUME the Chinese government is behind Code Red and
>Offensive, I think it is more credible that different groups of
>individuals within Guangdong might be hacking the United States and
>other nations (like Japan) for their own reasons.  Like the cracker
>activity once seen in Eastern Europe, these exploits may not be a
>political expression against, but a general frustration with, Western
>arrogance and influence.  The crackers in Guangdong seem to be doing
>their own thing, and they are definitely pushing the envelope of what is
>possible in terms of malicious activity on the Internet.
>
>Whatever their motives, I suggest we'll hear even more from the crackers
>in Guangdong.  If ego is involved, these crackers probably aren't done
>flexing their programming muscles or announcing themselves to the world.
>Now, thanks to comments from the U.S.  Defense Secretary, others
>elsewhere might also be tempted to join in their fun.
>
>
>
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