UPI among Web sites hacked

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread

Article Date 04/30/2001 Jump to: • United Press Int'l • Health News • LocalBusiness.com • Health

UPI among Web sites hacked By JOHN HENDEL

WASHINGTON, April 30 (UPI) -- The Web site of United Press International was among several Internet locations, including some associated with the U.S. Navy and other government agencies, hacked by interests of China who assign blame for the April 1 collision of the U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet on the United States.

The UPI site was changed around 3:30 a.m. Monday with the company's usual home page featuring a logo, scrolling news and links to related sites replaced with a fluttering Chinese national flag and several lines of copy in Chinese characters and English letters. The English portion of the message read: "The Great Chinese Nation Hooray!!!! USA Will Be With Responsibility for the Accident Totally!!! Protest USA sell Weapon to Taiwan, Break The World Peace!!! USA IS BITCH! I am From China --- Peak." A check of other major news organizations did not turn up any hacked sites.

However, several others sites were altered, including: whitehousehistory.org and the Department of Labor. Other sites affected involved U.S.-Japan relations and also Taiwan sites, the Internet hacking reporting site attrition.org reported. The altered sites generally contained messages similar to that placed on the UPI page.

UPI Editor-in-Chief John O'Sullivan said: "No great harm seems to have been done on this occasion. It was cyber-nuisance rather than cyber-terror. But it was a warning bell that we all need to prepare better countermeasures against a growing problem."

The reference to the "accident" is about the incident in which a U.S. Navy EP-3 plane and a Chinese fighter collided over the South China Sea. The heavily damaged U.S. plane managed to land at a Chinese military base, but the fighter crashed into the sea and its pilot was presumed killed. The 24 crewmembers of the U.S. Navy plane were kept by the Chinese for 11 days. None was harmed in the ordeal. U.S. officials this week were to travel to the Chinese military base to look over the EP-3.

Last week, the National Infrastructure Protection Center issued a warning that Chinese interests may be hacking into Web sites in conjunction with May Day celebrations Tuesday. Dozens of Web sites have been hacked in recent weeks by Chinese supporters who replace the usual information with anti-American slogans and pictures of the fighter pilot involved in the collision with the U.S. surveillance plane.

http://kevxml.infospace.com/_1_4KSGTUU0BC5B4O__info/kevxml?kcfg=upi-article&sin=200104300917050004232&otmpl=/upi/story.htm&qcat=news&rn=19087&qk=10&passdate=04/30/2001

--

Copyright 2001 by United Press International.

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 30, 2001

Answers

Maybe some of the US hackers will see fit to respond in kind.

-- Taz (Tassie123@aol.com), May 01, 2001.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ