[ISN] Biggest hacker training site shut down

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-02/08/content_9440667.htm

By Wu Yiyao 
China Daily
2010-02-08

What is believed to be the country's biggest hacker training site has 
been shut down by police in Central China's Hubei province.

Three people were also arrested, local media reported yesterday.

The three, who ran Black Hawk Safety Net, are suspected of offering 
others online attacking programs and software, a crime recently added to 
the Criminal Law. A total of 1.7 million yuan ($249,000) in assets were 
also frozen.

According to the provincial public security department of Hubei, the 
closure of the website had its roots in a previous Web attack and virus 
dissemination case in the city of Macheng in 2007, when police found 
some of the suspects caught were members of Black Hawk Safety Net.

Hubei province named Black Hawk Safety Net as the largest hacker 
training site in China, which openly recruited members and disseminated 
hacker techniques through lessons, trojan software and online forum 
communications.

Since it was established in 2005, the site had recruited more than 
12,000 VIP members and collected more than 7 million yuan in membership 
fees. More than 170,000 people registered for free membership.

Police said more than 50 officers had been investigating the case.

They seized nine Web servers, five computers and one car, and shut down 
all the sites involved in the case, according to the provincial public 
security department.

"I could download trojan programs from the site which allowed me to 
control other people's computers. I did this just for fun but I also 
know that many other members could make a fortune by attacking other 
people's accounts," said a 23-year-old member of Black Hawk Safety Net 
in Nanjing of East China's Jiangsu province, who asked to remain 
anonymous.

"It is not very difficult to do simple hacker tasks. Some hacker members 
are teenagers who dropped out of school and make money by stealing 
accounts," he said.

A 20-year-old college student who registered with three different hacker 
training sites said a hacker training course costs from 100 to 2,000 
yuan.

"Basically students were told how to steal accounts and use trojan 
programs. Sometimes trainers show us how to write programs," he said.

"But now it's very difficult to become a registered member. Some 
well-known hacker training sites have not been accessible since 
November," he said.

According to a report released by the National Computer Network 
Emergency Response Coordination Center of China, the hacker industry in 
China caused losses of 7.6 billion yuan in 2009.


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