Re: The Beijing hack attack

[Bronc Buster <bronc@2600.com>]

[: hacktivism :]


I think I must of missed some postings or something regarding this start
of this thread. Oh well, I'll just jump into the frey!

The attacks against China that are being talked about happened last year
at about this time. It all started out after our hits on
humanrights-china.org and china-tibet.org, and the disableing or several
firewalls which allowed free net access in and out of the country. The
dawn of hacktivism, as it has been called.

In any event, after these events unfolded, several groups of kiddies
wanted to get their names in lights and get their 15 minutes, so several
groups (inculding FORMER LoU members) went to "war" against China and
Iraq. They held a fake press confrence where Dan Atkin from the Tronto
Star was present. After these people said they were going after China and
Iraq, rather then ask people he knew were LoU members to conferm the
story, he ran with it, quoting people that were not only not members of
LoU, but people we had never even heard of. We informed Mr.Atkin and his
editors about these facts and that his story was false and asked for a
correction. He said no, and then helped several other online news sites do
stories about it as well. 

The statement below was a knee jerk reaction to these stories, and like
Mr.Atkins article, was written before anyone had talked to anyone in LoU.
Once it was released, the then members of LoU, released a statement
condeming the people who did call for these attacks, and condeming anyone
who would take such destructive actions. Once we had talked to the CCC
(who started movement and wrote the letter condeming the cyber war), and
the other groups who had signed that statement, we were given an appology
and the statement was instantly retracted.

Well enough with history, on to some facts.

In reality, at the time several hacker groups were supporting actions in
China. The cDc was helping a group called the Hong Kong Blondes, and they
were supporting other groups in and around China. Several kiddie groups
(who are now infamous for their FBI raids a few months ago) were also
involved in actions in Aisa. As you already know, LoU was also involved 
as well. For a few months a large part of the hacker worlds attention was
focused on China and the issues surrounding it. It was a good learning
experience for the community at large, a good test of how well we can
police ourselves, and a testing of how far is too far.

A lot of things came about thanks to the events in China, and for anyone
not familer with the fiasco last year, take some time to read up on it.

Sorry for blabbering on.

regards,
   Bronc Buster
  bronc@2600.com


On Sun, 26 Dec 1999, Paul Kneisel wrote:

> [: hacktivism :]
> 
> At 09:47 PM 12/17/99 -0800 maggie knowles published an article from the
> arch-conservative WorldNetDaily entitled "The Beijing hack attack: Hong
> Kong-based cyber warriors build anti-China techno army." The author gave
> the impression that the elite hacker community is involved in a cyber
> attack on the People's Republic of China, complete with a variety of rather
> breathless references to the "real inside dope" of world hackerdom.
> 
> In reality, cyber attacks on China have been routinely condemned by the
> bulk of the real, documentable, hacker organizations. Documentation for
> this claim, taken from 2600 Magazine, is included below.
> 
>   --  tallpaul
>       editor: The Internet Anti-Fascist
> 
> Following a declaration of war by the Legions of the Underground (LoU)
> against the information infrastructures of China and Iraq, 2600, along with
> hacker groups including the L0pht, Chaos Computer Club, and the Cult of the
> Dead Cow, issued a joint statement and a press release. One day later,
> members of the LoU issued a statement condemning any destructive actions. 
>    2600 Magazine
>    7 Jan 99
> 
> - - - - -
> 
> JOINT STATEMENT CONDEMNING LOU CYBERWAR 
> 7 Jan 99
> 
> The hacker groups 2600, Chaos Computer Club, the Cult of the Dead Cow
> (cDc), !Hispahack, L0pht Heavy Indusries, Phrack and Pulhas feel the need
> to comment on recent announcements of a group calling themselves the
> "Legion of the Underground" (LoU). 
> 
> The LoU has declared that they will attempt to damage and sabotage the
> cyberspace infrastructures of Iraq and China. They cited the human-rights
> issues in those countries as the reason for this action. 
> 
> Though we may agree with LoU that the atrocities in China and Iraq have got
> to stop, we do not agree with the methods they are advocating. They are
> short-sighted and potentially counterproductive. One cannot legitimately
> hope to improve a nation's free access to information by working to disable
> its data networks. 
> 
> Without doubt, the human rights situation in China, Iraq and many more
> countries on this planet is very bad. Hacktivism - using the skills and
> tools of hacking to advance progressive causes - could in the eyes of some
> of the signatories sometimes be a legitimate way of bringing public
> attention to this issue. 
> 
> But we strongly oppose any attempt to use the power of hacking to threaten
> or destroy the information infrastructure of any country, for any reason.
> Declaring "war" against anyone, any group of people, or any nation is a
> most deplorable act. This only reduces the hacker to the level of the group
> or country that they are attacking. This has nothing to do with hacktivism
> or the hacker ethics and is nothing a hacker can be proud of. 
> 
> Governments all over the world are trying to establish cyberspace as the
> new battleground for their artificial conflicts. What the LoU has done
> inadvertently legitimizes this agenda. If hackers are establishing
> themselves as a weapon, hacking in general will be seen as an act of war.
> And hackers themselves will undoubtedly be seen as legitimate targets of
> warring countries. 
> 
> As we see it, LoU is doing things that governments worldwide do not want to
> do officially or publicly. These preparations for Information Warfare in
> the US and elsewhere are at a point where real-world cases are needed to
> justify the assigned budgets. 
> 
> The LoU is providing this real-world case now. We believe the LoU should
> carefully investigate whether the idea of declaring "war" against China and
> Iraq was not given to them by someone with different interests in mind than
> advancing the human rights issue. 
> 
> The signatories are asking all the hackers on planet earth to reject
> anything that has to do with damaging the information infrastructure of any
> country. Don't support ANY acts of "Cyberwar"; keep the networks of
> communication alive: they are the very nervous system of our planet. 
> 
> All hackers and hacker-groups are welcome to sign, please direct your
> submission to hacktivism@berlin.ccc.de 
> 
> - - - - -
> 
> LOU CYBERWAR PRESS RELEASE 
> 01/07/99 
> 
> International Coalition of Hackers Denounce Declaration of War
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> 
> Date: 7.1.1999 
> 
> An international coalition of hackers strongly condemns the Legion of the
> Underground's (LoU) recent "declaration of war" against the governments of
> Iraq and the People's Republic of China. Citing human rights violations and
> other repressive measures the LoU declared their intention to disrupt and
> disable Internet infrastructures in Iraq and China. In a decision that was
> more rash than wise, the LoU will do little to alter existing conditions
> and much to endanger the rights of hackers around the world. 
> 
> We - the undersigned - strongly oppose any attempt to use the power of
> hacking to threaten or destroy the information infrastructure of a country,
> for any reason. Declaring "war" against a country is the most irresponsible
> thing a hacker group could do. This has nothing to do with hacktivism or
> hacker ethics and is nothing a hacker could be proud of. 
> 
> Frank Rieger of the CCC said, "Many hacker groups don't have a problem with
> Web hacks that raise public awareness about human rights violations. But we
> are very sensitive to people damaging networks and critical systems in
> repressive regimes or anywhere else. The police and intelligence
> communities regard hacking as seditious. It is quite possible now that
> hackers - not only in totalitarian states - could be jailed or executed as
> 'cyberterrorists' for the slightest infraction of the law." 
> 
> "It is shortsighted and potentially counterproductive," added Reid Fleming
> of the cDc. "One cannot legitimately hope to improve a nation's free access
> to information by working to disable its data networks." 
> 
> "Though we may agree with LoU that the atrocities in China and Iraq have
> got to stop, we do not agree with the methods they are advocating," said
> Space Rogue of the L0pht. 
> 
> Emmanuel Goldstein of 2600 said: "This kind of threat, even if made idly,
> can only serve to further alienate hackers from mainstream society and help
> to spread the misperceptions we're constantly battling. And what happens
> when someone in another country decides that the United States needs to be
> punished for its human rights record? This is one door that will be very
> hard to close if we allow it to be opened." 
> 
> Governments worldwide are seeking to establish cyberspace as a new
> battleground for their artificial conflicts. The LoU has inadvertently
> legitimized this alarmist propaganda. With its dramatic announcement the
> LoU played into the hands of policy makers who want complete control over
> the Internet and are looking for reasons to seize it. If hackers solicit
> recognition as paramilitary factions then hacking in general will be seen
> as an act of war. Ergo, hackers will be viewed as legitimate targets of
> warring states. 
> 
> Strategic combat planning in the United States and among other nations has
> reached the point where real-world cases are needed to justify assigned
> budgets. The LoU is providing this real-world case now. We believe that the
> LoU should carefully investigate the idea of declaring "war" against China
> and Iraq. Was it planted with them by someone with different interests in
> mind other than advancing human rights considerations? 
> 
> The signatories to this statement are asking hackers to reject all actions
> that seek to damage the information infrastructure of any country. DO NOT
> support any acts of "Cyberwar." Keep the networks of communication alive.
> They are the nervous system for human progress. 
> 
> Signed (7.1.1999): 
> 
> 2600 (http://www.2600.com)
> Chaos Computer Club (http://www.ccc.de)
> Cult of the Dead Cow (http://www.cultdeadcow.com)
> !Hispahack (http://hispahack.ccc.de)
> L0pht (http://www.l0pht.com)
> Phrack (http://www.phrack.com)
> Pulhas (http://p.ulh.as/)
> several members of the Dutch Hackers Community (contact Rop Gonggrijp,
> rop@xs4all.nl)
> Toxyn (http://www.toxyn.org/)
> 
> 
> Supporting documents:
> http://www.hackernews.com/archive.html?122998.html - The original
> declaration of war by LoU 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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