Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001

Chinese and American hackers declare 'cyberwar'

by Sarah Left

Chinese and American hackers have been escalating an online battle to deface each other's websites by replacing existing content with anti-US or anti-China rhetoric

Friday, May 4 2001 - Chinese and American hackers have been escalating an online battle to deface each other's websites by replacing existing content with anti-US or anti-China rhetoric. In the wake of the American spy plane incident, Chinese hackers vowed to attack US sites, which led hackers in the US to retaliate.

The US spy plane made an emergency landing on Chinese soil on April 1 after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China sea. The Chinese pilot was killed.

According to UK computer security firm mi2g, the Honkers Union of China hacking group has defaced more than 80 web sites in the past month, while the Americans or their allies have attacked more than 100 sites.

Most of the attacks have been minor defacements. The website for China's remote sensing satellite ground station was overwritten with a picture of a mushroom cloud. Meanwhile the White House historical association site was plastered in Chinese flags.

US websites falling victim to the vandals included the National Institutes of Health, the navy, the department of labour, and the Californian department of energy, as well as many corporate sites.

A US hackers collective dubbed Project China left a message on one Chinese site reading: "Get ready to meet a strike force with strength the world has never seen before! We are going for all-out cyber warfare on your gov.cn boxes and every other box that you fucks haven't secured!"

mi2g notes that this is not the first time we have seen a bitter 'cyberwar' between opposing national groups; Israelis and Palestinians also engage in defacement battles against each other's sites.