Sunday, 5 April 2015, WASHINGTON, D.C. - An unidentified party or entity (whose identity is widely suspected) about ten days ago used a sophisticated hackattack aimed at anti-censorship tools provided by GreatFire which allow Chinese internet users to circumvent the Chinese "Great Firewall". The attack directed the popular Chinese search function Baidu via ads to insert malicious code in websites directing unknowing visitors' browsers to flood and therefore disable the GreatFire website which hosts two anti-censorship tools reportedly for example allowing Chinese users to circumvent the Great Firewall in order to read the New York Times.
The attack originated outside of China raising suspicions as to its origin. In addition to obvious concerns about the hackattack's stifling of free speech it also is of significant concern because it for a period disabled the widely used Github website hosting Greatfire. Github is very widely used including by many programmers and even the United States government. This is not the first time the Github website has been disabled by an attack flooding and overwhelming it.
Readers interested in more information detailing the method of attack as well as its consequences and suspected origin can go to the below link to the Washington Post article of 27 March 2015 reporting this sophisticated hackattack.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/03/27/someone-hijacked-the-google-of-china-to-attack-anti-censorship-tools/?hpid=z15
Copyright 2015 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved
The attack originated outside of China raising suspicions as to its origin. In addition to obvious concerns about the hackattack's stifling of free speech it also is of significant concern because it for a period disabled the widely used Github website hosting Greatfire. Github is very widely used including by many programmers and even the United States government. This is not the first time the Github website has been disabled by an attack flooding and overwhelming it.
Readers interested in more information detailing the method of attack as well as its consequences and suspected origin can go to the below link to the Washington Post article of 27 March 2015 reporting this sophisticated hackattack.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/03/27/someone-hijacked-the-google-of-china-to-attack-anti-censorship-tools/?hpid=z15
Copyright 2015 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved
