We had this message posted at work.
Washington Times
April 23, 2001
Pg. 1
China Warns Of Coming Hack Attack
Retaliatory assault on U.S. computers planned for May
SAN FRANCISCO (Agence France-Presse) - Computer-savvy citizens of both China and the United States have begun their own war on the Internet as relations between the two powers continue to deteriorate.
American hackers are urging each other to break into Web sites hosted in China, and they say that U.S. hackers have already penetrated hundreds of Chinese Web sites.
Chinese hackers are vowing to retaliate with a weeklong attack on U.S.-based Web sites and computer networks, starting May 1. Security experts warn that these attacks could affect government systems and that outside of government all Web site owners and network administrators should ensure their networks are well-protected.
“These guys don’t care who you are. They are just interested in how many sites they can hit. Basically, they are just out there collecting scalps,” said “Taltos,” a security consultant and hacker from Hungary who has been closely following the underground online discussions on the Chinese-U.S. hack attacks.
Messages posted on some of the underground Internet chat rooms indicate that U.S. hackers plan to continue the blitz they have dubbed the “ChinaKiller.” And on the Chinese side, “Many people here are frustrated with America. We want to tell you what we think is wrong, but our government is too polite. So we will say it on everyone’s Internet,” wrote Jia En Zhu, a 22-year-old hacker who lives in Zhongguancun, a Beijing suburb, in one of the many messages posted on the Internet.
The Chinese hack attack is planned for May 1 to 7, peaking on May 4, a Chinese holiday commemorating a demonstration, which occurred in Tiananmen Square 82 years ago, Mr. Zhu said.
China’s people have had access to the Internet only since 1997, but the country’s computer programmers and Web surfers have been quick to use it for political points.
The Internet has been a channel for attacks, apparently by Chinese hackers, on U.S. government sites in response to the May 1999 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and for releasing viruses that destroyed data on Taiwanese university servers.
Taltos said he wouldn’t be surprised to see some new and nasty computer viruses making the rounds of the Internet during the first week of May. He said: “If this cyberwar goes forward as planned, many Internet users will be caught in the cross fire.”