Re: [ISN] Scriptkiddies, China and U.S.

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Mon Apr 16 2001 - 01:27:49 PDT

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    Forwarded by: "Talisker" <Taliskerat_private>
    
    I've noticed a marked increase of defaced Chinese sites in the last
    few days, this latest China vs USA cybergraffiti is becoming
    reminiscent of the tit for tat defacements between the Palestinian and
    Israeli sites a few months ago.
    
    These trends are often perceived as being a barometer for public
    feeling, though the defacers are usually a small handful of groups
    devoting a lot of time to their "cause".  The article makes a valid
    point, the guy was defacing Chinese sites long before he found his
    "just cause".  The defacers often change their tune from "we deface
    coz it's fun" to "we deface to improve security" the transition
    usually takes a few months.
    
    Having said all that, gone are the days when a nations borders
    prevented the general populus from having direct contact with a
    potential adversary. There are groups who seem to project a genuine
    political agenda, G-Force Pakistan and Herbless to name but two.  I
    was recently introduced to the term "asymmetric warfare" which seems
    to describe their actions quite well
    
    (Asymmetric warfare focuses whatever comparative advantages one side
    has against the other side's relative vulnerabilities or weaknesses)
    
    For the most part these defacements are harmless, as most Internet
    facing websites reside outside the network perimeter, with the obvious
    exception of the companies that rely on these sites for their
    business, the greatest loss for these targets is kudos.
    
    defacement sites
    http://defaced.alldas.de
    http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/
    http://www.safemode.org/
    
    Take Care
    Andy
    http://www.networkintrusion.co.uk
    Talisker's Network Security Tools List
    
    Security Tools Notification
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/security-tools/join
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Cancer Omega" <comegaat_private>
    To: <ISNat_private>
    Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 8:08 PM
    Subject: [ISN] Scriptkiddies, China and U.S.
    
    
    > This is a bit more based in reality than Washington Post writer Ariana
    > Eunjung Cha's "Chinese Suspected of Hacking U.S. Sites" hype-tripe.
    >
    >
    > http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=176657
    >
    > Thursday, 12 April 2001 17:18 (ET)
    > China sites hacked by "kiddie" over crisis
    > By CHARLES CHOI, UPI Science Writer
    >
    > An online vandal or "cracker" who threatened to assault Chinese Web
    > servers in retaliation for China's detention of 24 American airmen may not
    > be as capable or as politically-motivated as he wanted to appear.
    >
    > The vandal, known as pr0phet, threatened a large-scale attack as
    > retribution for the international crisis that began 11 days ago, April 1,
    > when a U.S. spy plane was forced to land in Hainan Island.
    >
    > "This will be my first serious set of defacements -- and will be in regard
    > to China acting completely ignorant and outlandish," pr0phet wrote on the
    > Chinese website www.yancheng.cngb.com . "Now I will proceed to own ten
    > times over what I have previously -- and destroy anything I find --
    > because Im (sic) ignorant and outlandish too."
    
    [...]
    
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