Anonymous Hack Chinese Goverment Sites

(BEIJING) — China was struggling Thursday to restore several government websites that international hacking group Anonymous says it attacked in an apparent protest against Chinese Internet restrictions.

On a Twitter account established in late March, Anonymous China listed the websites it says it hacked over the last several days. They include government bureaus in several Chinese cities, including in Chengdu, a provincial capital in southwest China. (MORE: Worst Cyber-Criminals in the World: China and Russia, Claims U.S. Report)

Some of the sites were still blocked Thursday, with error messages shown.

Anonymous activists have defaced websites around the world. They are engaged in political causes, including opposition to the global clampdown on file-sharing sites and defense of the secret-spilling site WikiLeaks. Some websites that Anonymous said it attacked were working Thursday, and government officials denied the sites were ever hacked. China’s National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team was not available for immediate comment.

In a message left on one of the hacked Chinese sites — cdcbd.gov.cn, a home page for Chengdu’s business district — the hackers expressed anger with the Chinese government for restrictions placed on the Internet.

“Dear Chinese government, you are not infallible, today websites are hacked, tomorrow it will be your vile regime that will fall,” the English-language message read. “What you are doing today to your Great People, tomorrow will be inflicted to you. With no mercy.”

The message also offered instructions on how to circumvent China’s restrictions on its Internet. The government tries to block Internet users in China from seeing social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Information on politically sensitive topics is often blocked.”

100 Million Usernames, Passwords Leaked

A massive leak of online user information has prompted widespread concern over Internet security in China

Millions of Chinese in the last week have rushed to change their passwords and online account details, after a huge cache of personal data from China’s most popular websites leaked onto the web last week.

Between December 21 and 26, hackers released the account information for more than 100 million Internet usernames, passwords and emails, spanning dozens of China’s most popular online shopping, microblogging, social networking and gaming websites.

Anti-virus company Qihoo 360′s Vice President Shi Xiaohong attributed the leak to companies neglecting to encrypt their users’ passwords and account information, Xinhua reported. Legal experts told Caixin that the massive leak also revealed shortcomings in Chinese internet security law and online ID theft protections.

The leaked files claimed to contain information from websites including the Internet forum Tianya (tianya.cn), the social networking sites Renren (renren.com) and Kaixin001 (kaixin001.com), the microblog platform Sina Weibo (weibo.com), the IT development site CSDN.net and online gaming sites like 17173.com and duowan.com.

It all started when Qihoo 360 revealed December 21 that a list of 6 million user IDs, passwords and email addresses from CSDN.net (China Software Developer Network) was circulating on the web. In the days following, lists containing the personal account details of users across dozens of websites emerged.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) December 28 denounced the slew of hackings, saying they “infringed on internet users’ legal rights.” MIIT said that it has put together a team and is liaising with companies to assess the situation.

Officials urged companies to immediately inform users of security breaches, and to use encryption to protect user information.

It is still unclear how the leaks occurred, or if they were coordinated. Legal experts said the incident exposed serious shortcomings in Chinese laws and regulations, which have yet to clarify what companies’ duties are when it comes to protecting user information.

Beijing Lanpeng Law Firm head Zhang Qihuai said there are currently “many holes” in the laws that could protect Internet users.

“Currently there are only ten laws and regulations, mostly pertaining to the information industry,” Zhang said, but because legislators have yet to clarify how exactly the general rules should be applied “it’s impractical to use them to protect users.”

Zhao Zhanling, legal counsel for China Internet Network told First Financial Daily that individual users may pursue civil compensation in court, but that it would be difficult for them to prove that hackers were to blame for their financial loses online.

CSDN.net has issued a public apology, urging its users to immediately change their passwords. Sina Weibo said the rumored 4.76 million list of Sina Weibo accounts were not from the company’s files, as Sina encrypts all its passwords.

But because some people use the same name and password for accounts across multiple websites, a small portion of Sina Weibo users may be at risk nevertheless, Sina said.

NetEase December 29 denied that hackers had obtained email usernames and passwords, saying it would investigate where the rumor came from. Sina Weibo’s anti-rumor team also refuted a widely-forwarded post that said hackers had released over 100 million bank card numbers from Bank of Communications and Minsheng Bank accounts.

China Says ‘ We Are Not Guilty’

黑客的世界 !

The Chinese government has denied any involvement in the recent Gmail phishing attack that Google says originated in China.

Google hasn’t openly accused the Chinese government of being involved in these hacking attacks; instead, it merely pointed out that the attacks originated from Jinan, China, and mentioned that some of them were pointed at Chinese political activists.

Still, even the implication hit the wrong note with Chinese authorities. “Allegations that the Chinese government supports hacking activities are completely unfounded and made with ulterior motives,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters Thursday.

Chinese news agency Xinhua took it a step further, openly blasting Google for failing to provide proof that the recent attacks originated from China. “Just as its previous accusations, the world’s largest Internet search engine provided no solid proof to support its statement,” claims Xinhua.

The incident will further degrade Google’s relations with China. They’re already shaken since Google partially left China in early 2010 because of censorship concerns and an attack on Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.