"U.S. ñ China Spy Plane Incident
The repercussions of the mid-air collision between an American surveillance plane and a
Chinese fighter aircraft on April 1, 2001, also offer insight into how political tensions
increasingly find expression in cyber attacks. The ensuing political conflict between the
two major powers was accompanied by an online campaign of mutual cyber attacks and
website defacements, with both sides receiving significant support from hackers around
the globe.
Chinese hacker groups, such as the Honker Union of China and the Chinese Red Guest
Network Security Technology Alliance, organized a massive and sustained week-long
campaign of cyber attacks against American targets, which led the National Infrastructure
Protection Center (NIPC) in the U.S. to issue an advisory on April 26, 2001, warning of
ìthe potential for increased hacker activity directed at U.S. systems during the period of
April 30, 2001 and May 7, 2001.î
13
Chinese hackers used Internet postings and Internet
Relay Chat (IRC)
xi
to plan and coordinate their assault against U.S. systems. Access to
the chat rooms
xii
was restricted by the need for a username and password to gain access.
It remains unclear whether the Chinese government sanctioned these attacks, but, in light
of the fact that these activities were highly visible and no arrests were made by Chinese
officials, it can be assumed that they were at least tolerated, if not directly supported by
Chinese authorities.
After approximately 1,200 U.S. sites, including those belonging to the White House, the
U.S. Air Force and the Department of Energy, had been subjected to DDoS attacks or
defaced with pro-Chinese images, the attack was stopped. It should be noted that a number of recent Internet worms including Lion, Adore, and Code Red are suspected of
having originated in China."
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA395300
The repercussions of the mid-air collision between an American surveillance plane and a
Chinese fighter aircraft on April 1, 2001, also offer insight into how political tensions
increasingly find expression in cyber attacks. The ensuing political conflict between the
two major powers was accompanied by an online campaign of mutual cyber attacks and
website defacements, with both sides receiving significant support from hackers around
the globe.
Chinese hacker groups, such as the Honker Union of China and the Chinese Red Guest
Network Security Technology Alliance, organized a massive and sustained week-long
campaign of cyber attacks against American targets, which led the National Infrastructure
Protection Center (NIPC) in the U.S. to issue an advisory on April 26, 2001, warning of
ìthe potential for increased hacker activity directed at U.S. systems during the period of
April 30, 2001 and May 7, 2001.î
13
Chinese hackers used Internet postings and Internet
Relay Chat (IRC)
xi
to plan and coordinate their assault against U.S. systems. Access to
the chat rooms
xii
was restricted by the need for a username and password to gain access.
It remains unclear whether the Chinese government sanctioned these attacks, but, in light
of the fact that these activities were highly visible and no arrests were made by Chinese
officials, it can be assumed that they were at least tolerated, if not directly supported by
Chinese authorities.
After approximately 1,200 U.S. sites, including those belonging to the White House, the
U.S. Air Force and the Department of Energy, had been subjected to DDoS attacks or
defaced with pro-Chinese images, the attack was stopped. It should be noted that a number of recent Internet worms including Lion, Adore, and Code Red are suspected of
having originated in China."
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA395300
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