Crackers (commonly referred to as hackers) from China are targeting
US computer networks with denial of service attacks and claim to
have planted cracking tools, giving them unauthorised access to
confidential data. According to Chinese reports, US crackers are
retaliating.
The attacks began with the recent mid-air collision in Chinese
air space between a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet which
killed the Chinese fighter pilot. Last week, Bush promised to
defend Taiwan against Chinese attack. It is likely that on-line
cracking activity will escalate with yesterday’s announcement by
the Bush concerning the so-called Star Wars 2 project in which he
described the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, which
limits missile defence systems, as a thing of the past and made
reference to threats from rogue states.
Chinese crackers are claiming hundreds of successful attacks
against US targets, including defacing the Department of Energy’s
web site with the message “USA Will Be With Responsibility for the
Accident Total!!!”. They also claim a denial of service attack
(where a server is flooded with false and untraceable requests,
ultimately crashing it) against the US House of Representatives’
e-mail servers. The Chinese Xinhua News Agency has also reported
that US crackers have defaced the web sites of provincial
governments.
The correct terminology for hackers and crackers is a raw nerve
for many programmers. Most say that a cracker is someone who breaks
into someone else's computer system, while a hacker is simply a
skilled programmer. The terms are commonly used incorrectly.
