Pinoy hackers scale up attacks on China websites

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - Filipino and Chinese hackers are engaged in a raging battle on the Internet amid the 2 countries' dispute over Scarborough Shoal and the Spratlys.

On Tuesday, members of "PrivateX" and "Anonymous #OccupyPhilippines" took down more Chinese websites in response to an attack allegedly made by Chinese Internet users on Philippine websites.

The Palace on Monday said the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) monitored a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDOS) on www.gov.ph, www.pcdspo.gov.ph, and www.malacanang.gov.ph that caused the government's servers to momentarily lag. 

"Information gathered through our data analysis indicated that the attack originated from IP addresses assigned to Chinese networks," Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in statement yesterday. 

Suspected Chinese hackers also defaced the University of the Philippines website over the weekend while another attack early Tuesday allegedly targetted the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs website.

In reaction, Filipino hackers launched a series of attacks on Chinese websites starting Monday.

In an operation dubbed "#OpChinaDown," Filipinos attacked the following websites:

• http://www.ocex.com.cn
• http://www.teawindow.com
• http://www.higvod.cn
• http://www.lzrk.gov.cn
• http://lppm.bigc.edu.cn/Pr1vX.htm
• http://xxb.leiyang.gov.cn/Pr1vX.htm
• http://en.founder.com.cn
• http://dxswl.cn
• http://www.cord.cn
• http://fmprc.gov.cn
• http://www.3322.net.cn
• http://wahsangtech.com/index.aspx

"They want Distributed Denial Of Service let's give them DDOS," said the Facebook page administrator of "Anonymous #OccupyPhilippines."

They also warned that they have not yet started a full-blast hacking spree.

"Di pa nagi-init upuan namin sa tapat ng computer. Sabi kasi dahan-dahan daw para ramdam ang sakit," said the Facebook page administrator of the "PrivateX" hacking group.

The same group was behind the attack on Vice-President Jejomar Binay's website on New Year's day.

"The recent defacements occurred on certain Chinese websites were just a simple response to what happened to the UP site.  You may continue bullying our country's waters but we will not tolerate you from intimidating our own cyber shores," said a message left by Filipino hackers on some of the websites they defaced.

"Those defacements are just a mere response to what you have initially started. We are not trying to start anything. We are just trying to tell you that we do not want to be bullied in our own cyberspace too," the message added.

"#OpChinaDown is not a threat. It will be a response. A response to future attacks within our cyberspace. We will leave our country's disputes to our government's hands. Yet this does not mean we will not support them," said the hackers, who are allegedly associated with the Anonymous global hackers group.

"One Truth Prevails, Scarborough Shoal is ours," they said. "We are Anonymous. We are legion. We don't forgive. We don't forget. United as one, Divided by zero. Expect us."

DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez earlier condemned the cyber attacks and called on hackers from both sides to stop the online war.

"We denounce such cyber attacks regardless from which side they are coming from," Hernandez said.

"We think they are counter productive and only add to the tension. We call on both Filipino and Chinese netizens to be more responsible and encourage dialogue rather than discord," he said.

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Jojo Malig | ABS-CBNnews.com | April 25, 2012 | Article Link