21 March 2008
Cyber Attacks Target Pro-Tibet Groups
(Washington Post) Human rights and pro-democracy groups sympathetic to anti-China demonstrators in Tibet are being targeted by sophisticated cyber attacks designed to disrupt their work and steal information on their members and activities. Alison Reynolds, director of the Tibet Support Network, said organisations affiliated with her group are receiving on average 20 e-mail virus attacks daily. Sharon Hom, executive director of the New York-based Human Rights in China, said the group's 25 member organizations worldwide have also reported a marked upswing in the number and sophistication of e-mail virus attacks. However, experts say attributing such attacks to any one group or government is extremely difficult, as computer systems that appear to be the source of malicious activity online often are controlled by persons or groups using computers in completely different locations.