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Chinese Hackers Might Hit Japanese Websites via Korean Servers

Chinese Hackers Might Hit Japanese Websites via Korean Servers

Posted July. 14, 2005 02:07,   

한국어

It is reported that Chinese hackers might mount major attacks on Japanese websites via Korean servers on August 15. The news is causing a stir in Korea. The Korean servers, which the hackers might use to avoid IP tracing, include not only those of universities but also those of some government agencies. The report will continue to create ripple effects across Korea.

Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po reported on July 2, “The Association of China’s Red Hackers, one of the world’s five hacking groups, plans to launch formidable attacks on the anti-Chinese websites in Japan between July and September.”

The Association of China’s Red Hackers, the largest hacker association, consists of students and graduates of Peking University’s Center of Science and Society.

Wen Wei Po added that the association grouped their members into three teams with each one focusing on the following three tasks: collecting information to find weak points of their targets; preparing for Japan’s counterattacks; and hitting Japan’s anti-Chinese websites including that of Fusosha, a center of contention over distorted history textbook.

One member of the Chinese hackers’ group told his Korean acquaintance, “They have chosen three candidate servers of a Korean gaming company and universities as their hacking routes. The security level of those servers is lower than expected. So they are thought to be proper for avoiding IP tracking.”

The hacker said, “As of July 13, 45,000 hackers in China joined our plan. Keep an eye on us on August 15.”

In April this year, Chinese hackers coincided their attacks on Japanese websites with mass anti-Japanese demonstrations across Mainland China. But their attempts failed because the Japanese authorities blocked all Chinese IP addresses. That is why the Chinese hackers want to hijack Korean IP addresses this time. They seem to believe that if they launch assaults via Korean servers, Japan would find it hard to block the Korean IP addresses.

On the matter, Han Seong-guk, a computer engineering professor at Wonkwang University, commented, “If Chinese hackers are allowed to exploit Korean servers freely, that is tantamount to our giving up Korea’s sovereignty in cyber warfare. If they use Korean servers without permission, it means that they are able to easily change the content of information there.”



Sun-Hong Park sunhong@donga.com thinkpark@donga.com