China Closed Hacker Training Site … Three Months Ago
On the heels of the international scandal triggered by the hacking of Google China's operations, we get this one.
According to Reuters, Chinese authorities in late November closed down arguably the country's largest hacking training website and arrested three of its members.
Reuters quotes Wuhan Province media reporting that the "Black Hawk Safety Net" website taught "hacking techniques and provided malicious software downloads for 12,000 members in exchange for a fee."
This news item makes us wonder about questions such as how come this kind of "malicious" website is allowed to operate in China whereas cyberdissidents advocating for the democratization of that society are regularly put in prison?
How about this one: If China so vehemently denies any official involvement in the hacking of the Google servers and allegedly deplores these practices, why is there a place called the "Communications Command Academy" still operating there?
We are all for freedom of expression on the Internet. In fact that is the very purpose of this blog. But one thing is using this wonderful tool as a means of communication and entirely another condoning potential criminal behavior.
According to Reuters, Chinese authorities in late November closed down arguably the country's largest hacking training website and arrested three of its members.
Reuters quotes Wuhan Province media reporting that the "Black Hawk Safety Net" website taught "hacking techniques and provided malicious software downloads for 12,000 members in exchange for a fee."
Wuhan happens to be home to the Communication Command Academy, which trains hackers, according to U.S. congressional testimony by cyber expert James Mulvenon in 2008.
The popularity of hacking in China, and hackers' use of multiple addresses and servers, in Taiwan and elsewhere, makes it hard to prove how or by whom they are coordinated.
Would-be hackers in China do not have to look far to figure out how to do it, thanks to a healthy hacking industry and sites such as Black Hawk Safety Net (www.3800hk.com), which was unavailable on Monday.
The popularity of hacking in China, and hackers' use of multiple addresses and servers, in Taiwan and elsewhere, makes it hard to prove how or by whom they are coordinated.
Would-be hackers in China do not have to look far to figure out how to do it, thanks to a healthy hacking industry and sites such as Black Hawk Safety Net (www.3800hk.com), which was unavailable on Monday.
This news item makes us wonder about questions such as how come this kind of "malicious" website is allowed to operate in China whereas cyberdissidents advocating for the democratization of that society are regularly put in prison?
How about this one: If China so vehemently denies any official involvement in the hacking of the Google servers and allegedly deplores these practices, why is there a place called the "Communications Command Academy" still operating there?
We are all for freedom of expression on the Internet. In fact that is the very purpose of this blog. But one thing is using this wonderful tool as a means of communication and entirely another condoning potential criminal behavior.
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