http://www.foxnews.
FBI Probes Possible Hacking of Darfur Activists' Computers By China
Thursday, March 20, 2008
WASHINGTON - Activists for peace in Darfur who are trying to use
this year's Olympic Games as a tool to apply international pressure on
China to help solve the Darfur problem said Thursday their computer
systems have come under attack. They believe they were targeted by
China.
The Save Darfur Coalition said it had notified the FBI and was
cooperating with its agents. At the bureau, spokesman Richard Kolko
said, "We are aware of the report and are looking into it." A U.S.
Defense Department annual assessment of China's military said it had
launched hacker attacks on foreign computer networks.
Save Darfur holds China partly responsible for the violence in Darfur,
a barren region of western Sudan, which entered its sixth year last
month. Hundreds of thousands have died, and more than 2.5 million have
been made homeless by attacks allegedly perpetrated by militias backed
and armed by the Sudanese government.
China is Sudan's largest trading partner and absorbs most of its oil
exports. Save Darfur has pressed the Chinese to use their economic
muscle to force Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to allow the entry
of foreign peacekeepers ordered into Darfur by the United Nations. A
call to the Chinese Embassy in Washington for reaction to Save Darfur
Coalition's allegations was not immediately returned. Related
* Stories o Chinese Press Blasts Spielberg for Withdrawing From
Beijing Olympics o China Blames 'Ulterior Motives' for Linking Beijing
Olympics, Sudan
Allyn Brooks-LaSure, spokesman for the coalition, said the
organization'
with them again Thursday morning about the computer attacks. He said
China was pinpointed as the source of the intrusions "due to technical
information that traces back to China."
The coalition has proved a major headache for Beijing. On Thursday, it
announced in conjunction with Dream for Darfur plans to mount major
demonstrations in Beijing during the Olympics. Its campaign for
boycotts of the Olympics have many of the Summer Games' sponsors
worried about possible repercussions.
Coalition president Jerry Fowler said in a statement Thursday, "The
closer we are to the Olympics, the more scrutiny is applied to China's
obstructive role on Darfur and their overactive attempts to deflect
pressure on this crisis. By attacking our computer systems, someone in
Beijing is clearly trying to send us a message."
The organization said in a news release that Save Darfur staff members
discovered the anomalies when they noted that e-mail messages appeared
to have been read by a third party. "Further inspection revealed
several other sophisticated attacks, which appeared to originate in
China," the release said.
It said other messages included e-mails from ostensibly friendly
sources that contained elements that could damage the technology.
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