A man who hacked into 100,000 computers to launch group attacks has
been arrested in Tangshan, north China's
Hebei
Province, according to the Ministry of Public Security Friday.
The ministry's Public Information and Internet Security
Supervision Bureau determined that many attacks came from a large
group of computers embedded with virus programs. These computers
were maneuvered by one hacker via several servers both at home and
abroad.
More than 60,000 of the 100,000 computers were within China, and
some of them were owned by government departments and other
important sectors, said an official with the bureau.
They formed a so-called "corpse network," an attack tool popular
among Internet hackers, which can prevent other computers from
regular Internet service or send out mass junk e-mails on the
hacker's orders, the official said.
A hacker could also steal and use users' information stored in
the computers, the official said, but didn't disclose the name of
the arrested suspect.
The number of crimes taking advantage of network technologies is
climbing in China. Online pornography, gambling and fraud are focal
points in the country's extensive crackdowns.
The official pointed out that China should speed up legislation
on Internet crimes, including enacting laws to standardize
identification of network data, evidence collection and
investigation.
(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2005)