China, US vie for mantle of world's biggest hacking victim

China and the US have been battling lately to portray themselves as the more pathetic victim of cyberattacks.
The US has lamented its own lack of preparedness for a major Internet hack attack and focused on the 30+ companies affected by the recent China-based hack that set Google off on its recent anti-censorship kick. But it is Beijing that has been most at pains to claim the mantle of "victim."

We're number 1!

"As one of the major victims of hacking in the world," said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, "China advocates stronger international cooperation in combating hacking to protect citizens' privacy and safeguard cyber security according to law."
The accusations of Chinese hacking come as China tries to deflect the Google story, saying that it's a business dispute (and thus the US government should stay away), that the government had nothing to do with the hacking, and that Chinese people "fully enjoy the freedom of speech and have immediate access to adequate information in accordance with law, which is one of the important reasons that they firmly follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics."
"According to law" is important in this formulation, because it allows the Chinese to have a consistent focus on following the law. Google must censor search results in China because it is the law; China isn't behind hack attacks that break the law; let's all work together to make cybersecurity an international issue (according to law).
The spokesperson's last comments came on February 1 in response to questions about a meeting between China and US Secretary of State Clinton that came on the sidelines of an Afghan donor conference. The response is telling, because it fits into the emerging Chinese narrative about cyberattacks: "hey, we're huge victims!"

China has stressed its own victimization ever since it recovered from its initial confusion and began responding to the Google narrative. Back on January 19, the Foreign Ministry was stressing the "we're victims too" theme, saying that cyberattacks from abroad increased 148 percent in 2008. (Also: China's Internet "was open and managed in accordance with the law.")

On January 22, in the wake of Hillary Clinton's major speech on Internet freedom, the Foreign Ministry stressed that it was "a major victim of hacking in the world," asked for international cooperation, and claimed that China "supervises Internet according to law."

We're victims, too!
The US intelligence community remains skeptical of China's interest in stopping international cyberattacks of a certain kind: state-backed attacks trolling for data, corporate secrets, or infrastructure weaknesses.
In a report (PDF) submitted to Congress yesterday, Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence, placed cyberattacks at the very top of the document. And, while China wasn't called out by name, Blair's single example was telling.
"The recent intrusions reported by Google are a stark reminder of the importance of these cyber assets, and a wake-up call to those who have not taken this problem seriously," he wrote.
How bad is the problem? Well, the US sees itself as a major victim of cyberattacks, too. "Sensitive information is stolen daily from both government and private sector networks," wrote Blair. "We often find persistent, unauthorized, and at times, unattributable presences on exploited networks, the hallmark of an unknown adversary intending to do far more than merely demonstrate skill or mock a vulnerability."
In the section on China, Blair noted four key areas of concern; one was "China’s aggressive cyber activities." (The US maintains such capabilities too, of course, and Blair called on Congress to deliver more funding.)

Source : http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/02/china-us-vie-for-mantle-of-worlds-biggest-hacking-victim.ars

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Major Israeli websites hacked

Unprecedented number of Israeli websites hacked: Hundreds of websites were damaged by hackers in recent hours, following IDF activity in the Gaza Strip. The hackers are members of the Moroccan “Team Evil” group, responsible for most of the website damage in Israel in the past year. This is the largest, most concentrated attack on Israeli websites in recent years.
A Ynet investigation revealed that more than 750 Israeli websites, on a number of different domains, were hacked into and damaged in recent days. Prominent among them were the Soldier’s Treasury Bank, Bank Hapoalim (not the main page), Rambam Hospital, the Society for Culture and Housing, BMW Israel, Subaru Israel, Jump Fashion, non-profit organization “Yedid,” Kadima’s youth website, and the Globus Group ticket center. Many of these sites have not yet returned to normal.

Hackers left the message: You’re killing Palestinians, we’re killing servers.

Early on Wednesday, the IDF began operation “Summer Rains” in Gaza: Forces entered the southern end of the strip, adjacent to the

point of Cpl. Gilad Shavit’s kidnap. The air force attacked a power station and blacked out areas of Gaza. Three bridges were bombed in central Gaza, in order to prevent movement of the kidnapped soldier.   Many Israeli websites are hacked every day – most of these are small sites, with inadequate information security. It is significantly different when the sites are ones of large companies, who have adequate defenses from this sort of attack.

Past success of Team Evil

In the past, Team Evil succeeded in hacking into several sites of medium-sized but recognized Israeli companies. In April, they hit tens of sites, including those of the “Shilav” children’s store, “The Blue Square” supermarket and McDonald’s.

The group’s spokesman previously told Ynet that “we are a group of Moroccan hackers that hack into sites as part of the resistance in the war with Israel. We attack Israeli sites every day. This is our duty…hacking is not a crime.”

Added another group member: “We want Israel to stop fighting. Stop killing children and we’ll stop hacking.” According to the spokesman, the group’s members are all Moroccan youths, under the age of 20.

The increase in hacking of websites following military operations is a well-known phenomenon, in Israel and in the rest of the world. A similar increase was seen in attacks on both Israeli and Arab websites in the first days of the second intifada, pursuant to military operations that took place in Gaza, Judea and Samaria at that time.

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World's biggest hacker held

A London man described as the "world's biggest computer hacker" has been arrested.

Gary McKinnon, 39, was seized by the Met's extradition unit at his Wood Green home.

The unemployed former computer engineer is accused of causing the US government $1billion of damage by breaking into its most secure computers at the Pentagon and Nasa. He is likely to be extradited to America to face eight counts of computer crime in 14 states and could be jailed for 70 years.

The former Highgate Wood comprehensive-pupil was granted bail today at Bow Street Magistrates' Court.

Most of the alleged hacking took place in 2001 and 2002. At one stage the US thought it was the work of the al Qaeda terror network.

Friends said that he broke into the networks from his home computer to try to prove his theory that the US was covering up the existence of UFOs.

He is accused of a series of hacking offences including deleting "critical" files from military computers. The US authorities said the cost of tracking him down and correcting the alleged problems was more than £570,000. The offences could also see him fined up to £950,000 if found guilty on all charges.

He was arrested yesterday evening but the US first issued an indictment against him in November 2002.

Prosecutor Paul McNulty alleged that McKinnon, known online as "Solo," had perpetrated "the biggest hack of military computers ever". He was named as the chief suspect after a series of electronic break-ins occurred over 12 months at 92 separate US military and Nasa networks.

McKinnon was also accused of hacking into the networks of six private companies and organisations.

It is alleged that he used software available on the internet to scan tens of thousands of computers on US military networks from his home PC, looking for machines that might be exposed due to flaws in the Windows operating system.

Many of the computers he broke into were protected by easy-to-guess passwords, investigators said. In some cases, McKinnon allegedly shut down the computer systems he invaded.

The charge sheet alleges that he hacked into an army computer at Fort Myer, Virginia, where he obtained codes, information and commands before deleting about 1,300 user accounts.

Other systems he hacked into included the Pentagon's network and US army, navy and air force computers.

Reports when he was first indicted said that McKinnon found his career as a computer engineer tedious.

One message updating old schoolfriends on a website read simply: "Computers (Yawn)".

Friends said he was desperate to prove that the Americans had mounted a huge cover-up to deny his belief that aliens had visited earth.

Andrew Edwards, who has known McKinnon since their days together at Highgate Wood comprehensive, said in 2002: "Gary told me all he was doing was looking for proof of a cover-up over UFOs.

"He's been interested in UFOs for some time and believes the Americans are holding back information - although he didn't find any proof."

Outside court, his solicitor Karen Todner said he was disappointed it had taken the authorities this long to bring him to court.

She said: "This decision for extradition is driven by the American government. Mr McKinnon intends to contest this case most vigorously.

"Of particular concern to him is the treatment of other British nationals under the American judicial system which inspires little confidence.

"We believe that as a British national, he should be tried here in our courts by a British jury and not in the US."

Source : http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-19164714-worlds-biggest-hacker-held.do

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Students arrested in Nye country computer haking case

A dozen students were arrested by the Nye County Sheriff's Department for allegedly changing their grades in the school computer system.

Police say Tyler Coyner is suspected of stealing the password to the grade system at Pahrump Valley High School and then selling the password to others. The alleged crime went on for two semesters.

Police say Coyner even went as far as changing his own grades, making himself the salutatorian at graduation.

Coyner and another suspect, Matthew Miller, are also accused of stealing a television from Wal-mart and possessing fake ID's. They are facing charges of altering computer data, conspiracy to commit a crime, burglary and grand larceny.

Ten other un-named students, all under the age of 18, have also been charged in the incident.

Source : http://www.thehackernews.com/2011/03/students-arrested-in-nye-county.html

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