Navy site hacked by China sympathizers Friday, April 6, 2001 By Dawn S. Onley, Government Computer News Staff Writer The home page of a Navy Web site was hijacked Thursday, apparently by supporters or agents of the People’s Republic of China, which holds the United States responsible for the recent collision of a surveillance plane with a Chinese F-8 fighter.

The site, at www.peoarbs.navy.mil, was shut down immediately, and the Navy is reviewing the incident, Navy spokeswoman Lt. Jane Alexander confirmed. But she could not confirm suspicions that China was responsible or that critical messages blamed the crew of the Navy’s EP-3E Aries II surveillance plane for the crash.

“We don’t want to jump to any conclusions,” Alexander said. “They are still in the middle of the security review of what happened and how it happened.”

Two sources, who asked not to be identified, said they saw the home page of the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Acquisition Related Business Systems in Arlington, Va., decorated with an animated Chinese flag on a red background. The hackers had placed anti-American sentiments in English plus Chinese characters on the home page.

Alexander said once the webmaster realized an unauthorized user had gained access, he shut the site down. It remained down through late Friday.

The sources speculated that the relatively obscure site was hacked because it was more vulnerable than more prominent military sites, such as that of the Navy’s Pacific Command.

Reported by Government Computer News, http://www.gcn.com.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 06, 2001