Mar 24, 2008 : FBI Probe Darfur Protest Site Hack
📅 - The US Federal Bureau of Investigation announced on Friday that it has begun a preliminary investigation following reports that hackers in China have broken into the email accounts of leaders and members of the Save Darfur Coalition (savedarfur.org).
According to the Washington Post (washingtonpost.com), the accounts of 10 members were hacked into between early February and last week, and the hackers have also gained access to the organization's Web server.
Allyn Brooks-LaSure, a spokesman with Save Darfur, says the organization is unsure as to who is behind the attacks, but the IP addresses of the computers that hacked into the group's servers come from China. Brooks-LaSure speculates that the hackers were interested in gathering more data about the organization.
The Save Darfur Coalition is a US-based national advocacy group that is striving to end the six-year conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. Save Darfur has been urging China to use its position as one of Sudan's largest trading partners to pressure the government into stopping the genocide in Darfur's ongoing civil war. China is Sudan's chief diplomatic sponsor, major weapons provider and largest foreign investor and trade partner.
Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Dafur Coalition, believes that someone in Beijing is clearly trying to send the group a message. But he remains adamant that these types of attacks won't slow the organization down with its efforts to bring peace to Darfur.
This is by no means the first account of China being criticized for intimidating or censoring websites or organizations that are critical of the government's human rights practices. However, it should be noted that while computers in China have been the source of many attacks, sometimes the China-based machines are simply "zombie" computers that are being used by hackers residing in other countries, such as the US or Russia.
According to the Washington Post (washingtonpost.com), the accounts of 10 members were hacked into between early February and last week, and the hackers have also gained access to the organization's Web server.
Allyn Brooks-LaSure, a spokesman with Save Darfur, says the organization is unsure as to who is behind the attacks, but the IP addresses of the computers that hacked into the group's servers come from China. Brooks-LaSure speculates that the hackers were interested in gathering more data about the organization.
The Save Darfur Coalition is a US-based national advocacy group that is striving to end the six-year conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. Save Darfur has been urging China to use its position as one of Sudan's largest trading partners to pressure the government into stopping the genocide in Darfur's ongoing civil war. China is Sudan's chief diplomatic sponsor, major weapons provider and largest foreign investor and trade partner.
Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Dafur Coalition, believes that someone in Beijing is clearly trying to send the group a message. But he remains adamant that these types of attacks won't slow the organization down with its efforts to bring peace to Darfur.
This is by no means the first account of China being criticized for intimidating or censoring websites or organizations that are critical of the government's human rights practices. However, it should be noted that while computers in China have been the source of many attacks, sometimes the China-based machines are simply "zombie" computers that are being used by hackers residing in other countries, such as the US or Russia.
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