Chinese Hacktivists Prepare To Defend The Motherland

Excerpt(s): “Fuelled by anti-Western nationalism, China ’s new red army is a band of patriotic hackers [who] have come to the defence of the motherland in response criticism of Beijing ’s handling of recent pro-independence riots by ethnic Tibetans. The hackers are believed to be behind recent attacks on several US websites and a Chinese website run by the French supermarket chain Carrefour. Scott Henderson, a former US Army intelligence analyst who wrote a book about Chinese hackers called The Dark Visitor, has been tracking developments on his blog and says that what’s happened over the past week may be the opening salvo in new cyber war. The hackers, he says, are working independently from the government but with its tacit support. ‘Once they [the hackers] get started, it’s very hard to put the genie back in the bottle,’ he said in a telephone interview. ‘It does seem to be escalating and it’s feeding on itself.’”

Context/Analysis:American news network CNN was struck by a denial-of-service cyber attack last week, which many believe was orchestrated by Chinese hackers angered over the network’s coverage of Olympic protests and Chinese security operations in Tibet . Additionally, U.S. Department of Defense officials have indicated that they think that China was behind a cyber attack against Pentagon computer systems in June 2007.

As Olympics near, jittery China clamps down on foreigners, concerts

Journalists were allowed into the just completed “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium, and here are some photos to show what it looks like.

This is the landmark venue for the Summer Games, a $450 million beauty. The opening and closing ceremonies will occur here, and such events as the marathon will terminate here.

It is a striking facility, especially from a distance. The interlaced beams look randomly but stably intertwined. Once inside, the color red predominates. It is not a covered stadium. But if one looks overhead, multiple cables crisscross the open-air roof. Clearly, the designers plan for some acrobatic displays.

In the center of the playing field, there are four huge platforms on hydraulic lifts, just as in a large theater. So the opening ceremony will clearly include scenes of performers rising from underground into the air.

On another note, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Beijing had a session yesterday with Stefano Baldini, the reigning Olympic gold medalist marathoner from the 2004 Athens Games. Baldini had some interesting things to say. For one, he thinks the smog will be less of a factor in the upcoming Games then heat and humidity, at least for his event.

“The hotter it is and the more humid it is, the more the gap shrinks with the strongest runners,” he said, meaning that the race may be wide open.

Air quality has not been good this week, and Baldini remarked on it.

“I haven’t seen such a polluted sky anywhere else,” he said. “I think it’s very psychological because you see it. You sense it.”

But he said air quality is likely to get better by summer time.

He also snorted at the idea of wearing a mask when coming to Beijing, breaking into English from his native Italian. Some teams, including the U.S. squad, will be providing masks to athletes.

“No mask,” he said. “I don’t see any advantage in wearing a mask, neither for everyday use nor for training.”

Interpol warned on Friday that China must be prepared for a possible Al-Qaeda attack on the Beijing Olympics, as well as potentially violent disruption from pro-Tibet protestors.

"We must be prepared for the possibility that Al-Qaeda or some other terrorist group will attempt to launch a deadly terrorist attack at these Olympics," Interpol chief Ronald Noble told an international conference on security for the Games in Beijing, according to a copy of his speech.

"The threat is compounded by the very nature of the 2008 Summer Olympics," the head of the international police organisation, based in the French city of Lyon, told the gathering.

"China will open its doors to hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors and journalists and an audience of billions watching on television. This could provide easy cover for terrorists and ensure any attack during the Olympics would have an immediate global impact."

"There is no doubt that the biggest threat facing the Beijing Olympics is terrorism," China's Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu said, according to a translation of his speech at the conference.

"I hope that all parties will adopt practical and effective measures, strengthen border controls...to jointly prevent and suppress international terrorist activities targeting the Beijing Olympic Games," he said.

Noble told delegates the security "situation has clearly changed" since September 2007, when Interpol reported it had no specific information from its 186 member countries on direct terrorist threats to the Beijing Olympics.

He cited a string of Chinese reports of failed plots to disrupt the Games which the authorities claimed were linked to separatist groups.

Chinese police announced this month they had cracked two terrorist gangs, including one planning to kidnap Olympic athletes, journalists and tourists, in northwest China's Xinjiang region, which has a strong Muslim population of ethnic Uighurs.

In January, China announced the dismantling of an Islamist terror cell in Xinjiang, and also claimed to have foiled an attempt by a Uighur woman to blow up a Chinese airliner on March 7.

Rights groups and exiled Uighurs regularly accuse Beijing of inflating a terror threat in Xinjiang to tighten its control over the restive and oil-rich region, and one exiled leader has accused China of fabricating plots.

The Interpol chief also pointed to the arrest in Indonesia in December of several suspected Al-Qaeda members believed to have been plotting an attack during the Games, and who were reportedly in possession of a map of Beijing and data on various sports venues.

Noble also said the wave of protests over China's crackdown in Tibet during the global Olympic torch relay had "introduced significant additional complications to the normal security considerations" for the Games.

"In light of recent events, all countries whose athletes will participate and whose citizens will attend the Beijing Olympics must be prepared for the possibility that the groups and individuals responsible for the violence during the global torch relay could carry out their protests at the actual Games."

He said that Interpol had been working with Beijing to assess the threat of a terrorist attack at the Games, with an Interpol team to travel to China ahead of the Games to train Chinese officers in crisis operations.

The Interpol chief said his organisation was working with China to help it detect lost and stolen travel documents at Beijing airport and other major border entry points.

"This is absolutely crucial if we want to prevent terrorists or dangerous criminals from entering China," he said.