NATO countries under China Cyber Attack

press release

Chinese Retaliate Aggressively to Belgrade Embassy Bombing

London, UK, 11th May 1999 - Following the NATO bomb on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, which killed three Chinese Journalists, protest through Cyber Attack has begun.

Computer hackers are continuing to attack US Government Web Sites, according to mi2g (www.mi2g.com) sources. The Energy Department site remained closed throughout Monday (GMT). So far, the internet host computers of the Energy department, Interior Department and the National Park Service have been cracked. A classified report warned the Clinton administration only six months ago that computer systems at national nuclear weapons labs were vulnerable to Cyber Attack. The White House web site has also come under attack and did momentarily stop around Monday noon (GMT).

The graffiti messages in English and Chinese condemn the bombing and indiscriminate killing of journalists alternately in poetic and aggressive language. Photos of the dead journalists have also been intermittently posted on at least two major US government sites. The hackers' own site, a bulletin board and database of hacking techniques, had over 1,600 messages by Monday. Some contributions suggest disseminating computer viruses to NATO companies; "machine-gunning" NATO internet host computers; and targeting financial markets.

DK Matai, the Managing Director of mi2g said, "These are the very early stages of Cyber Warfare. No real harm has been done yet but the Chinese Cyber Attacks are likely to intensify as the bombing of Yugoslavia continues. The international Chinese software skills base is excellent. However, the activities carried out so far are easy to achieve if one has a modem and a little technical knowledge. There are further stages of Cyber Warfare that are far more dangerous and disruptive that have been described in the mi2g 'Corporate Cyber Warfare Tactics' study. Companies within NATO countries would be well advised to tighten their computer security systems further, bearing in mind there are commercial and national interests at stake."