The China Syndrome, Or Is It?

WEB REVIEW

The China Syndrome, Or Is It? The current Cyberwar between the US and China has, not surprisingly, been receiving a lot of Web space. So, the ‘great yellow peril’ has injected a rare blend of excitement, speculation, theorising and general banter on many security related sites who were probably just about ready for it. It is interesting to see how different sites have dealt with the issue — including the news and print media who have online sites. It is even more interesting to see how these ‘Web reacters’ have responded to each other’s responses. For example, the Attrition.org response to the Wired News coverage of the event is not very complimentary: “We were rather amused at how easily Wired ran with this story and how little backing and substance it really contained. Do online news outlets have fact-checking? According to the Wired story, everyone has some ‘hacktivist’ agenda.” I will not offer comment on any of the responses mentioned in this piece. I merely give examples to portray a trend. There are differing approaches to covering a story, and I guess everyone has their own messages and beliefs that they unconsciously or otherwise weave into their reporting. Personally, I enjoy both what Attrition.org and Wired News has to offer, and I have been informed by both. First up is Attrition.org1 with an article entitled, Cyberwar with China: Selffulfilling Prophecy. Not that they could really be accused of the rare blend mentioned above, they do recoil in horror at a Wired News article2. “A recent Wired News article warns the cyber-going public of an impending “week-long all-out crack attack on American websites and networks” by Chinese hackers during the first week of May. The logic? May 1st is ‘May Day’ celebrated in China, May 4th

is ‘Youth Day’ in China (all those Chinese script kiddies will be feeling wholly patriotic) and May 7th is the anniversary of the US ‘accidental’ bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Holy fortune cookie, Batman! Could this be the end of the Internet in America??” And there’s more. According to the people at Attrition.org, it’s not the end of the Internet in America. “No, not really. Just the collective dick-waving of a bunch of script-kidiots fueled by so-called journalists generating media hype — the former trying to feed their egos and the latter to feed their hit counts.” Understandably, the Wired News article reports that the Chinese crackers are extremely angery about the defacement of over 300 Chinese websites by American and/or other allegedly pro-American groups, as well as the loss of a Chinese pilot in the recent spy-plane incident. Referring to sites that the Chinese hacker claims were defaced in the name of China, Attrition.org could only find two defaced mirrors that may qualify3. Chinese hacker Jia En Zhu offered his explanation for the lack of defacement evidence in another Wired article4. The article begins, “Websites such as KillUSA.com and Sohu.com are filled with messages pointing to proposed cracking targets such as the United

1 www.attrition.org/security/commentary/cnus-war.html 2 www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283, 43134,00.html

3 http://attrition.org/mirror/attrition/cn. html 4 www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283 42982,00.html

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States’ Defense Technical Information Centre (www.dtic.mil) and the Defense Department’s news site (www. defenselink.mil), along with encouragement to “Hack it Great Chinese!!!”’ And, Attrition’s response to the impending defacement mayhem in May? “Well, now that we have been notified about the impending Mayday defacement spree, we’ll be sure to stock up on the Kleenex and hand lotion. *yawn*.” But, enough of the cyberwar between Attrition.org and Wired News. Wired News were not the only ones giving full alert warnings. Infowar.com5 have a Reuters piece from 5 April 2001 entitled China Sounds Fresh Hacking Alarm over Web Showdown. This time it’s about the Chinese warning against US Web intrusions. It reads, “Chinese Internet security officers have alerted websites to the likelihood of more attacks in a ‘hacking’ war kicked off by the Sino-American spyplane standoff, the China Daily said Friday. The Computer Network and Information Security Management Office told Web operators an average of 100 sites a day had seen ‘some form of attack’ higher than normal, the paper quoted an official at the Web security office as saying. It said websites had been told to be on full alert for intrusions, but did not say where the attacks came from.” Fred Cohen & Associates6 has a more circumspect approach with their forum on the Sino/USA fracas. “This forum — and the information warfare mailing list are not aligned with any side and are dedicated to providing a range of reasonable opinions and sharing views and opinions openly” But, Cohen has a link to the Attrition article, Cyberwar with China: Self-fulfilling Prophecy! Just when I thought I was moving forward, I realized I was rotating. But, this may not necessarily be a bad thing as in cyberspace the view constantly changes. Berni Dwan 5. www.infowar.com 6. www.all.net