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Cyberwar breaks out between Iranian and Chinese Hackers
By Robert Fragnito January 14, 2010A cyberwar broke out on Tuesday after Iranian hackers calling themselves the “Iranian Cyber Army” attacked Baidu, China's leading search engine. Online users accessing Baidu found the site covered with the Iranian flag and a message saying “This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army.” Chinese hackers calling themselves the Honker Union for China retaliated by attacking key Iranian websites including the websites of the supreme leader, President Ahmadinejad, the ministries of foreign affairs, defense, and interior.
The reasons for the Iranian attack on the Baidu website still remains unclear. It is believed the Baidu attack also coincided with a hack on Twitter last month by the what appears to be the pro-regime “Iranian Cyber Army.” Iranian hackers targeted the microblogging network to stop Chinese users from commenting on the situation in Iran through the discussion topic “CN4Iran.” Twitter played a critical role in giving protesters in Iran an outlet to communicate to the world in the 2009 election protests.
The onset of a cyberwar between Iran and China is unusual seeing both countries share good relations, both diplomatic and economic. Many theories on the attack are being circulated on the web. Some believe that the attack on the Baidu site was initiated by supporters of the reformist Mousavi movement to provoke a Chinese response on Iranian government sites. Although the Baidu attack yielded retaliation, it appears that the Chinese response was delivered through grassroot actors operating on nationalistic grounds rather than in an official capacity.
One thing is for sure, Iran is no stranger to hacking. I was reminded of a series of hacking activities conducted between Sunni and Iranian hackers in February of 2008. Iranian hackers attacked a website of anti-Shi'a Saudi preacher named Dr. Aaidh al-Qarni the founder of alislamnet. Al-Qarni told Asharq Al-Awsat, an Arab daily, that the content on his website was deleted by Iranian hackers. The hackers left a picture of a face with an Iranian flag painted on it, the style of the image is very similar to the design on the Baidu hacked site. In addition to this, the words “Persian Gulf” appear on both versions signifying Iranian pride and dominance over the gulf region Iran shares with it Gulf Arab neighbors. Iran does not accept alternative names of the gulf region such as the “Arabian Gulf” or “Gulf.”
These comparisons draw many interesting questions concerning Iran's online activities. Was the attack on the Baidu website ordered by the Iranian government? Is Iran and China cooperating in censoring their people from communicating among themselves and with the rest of the world? Does Iran have a cyber task force that aims to disrupt online activities of its rivals? Are Iran's proxies connected to these activities? Based on these comparisons, the Iranian hackers are definitely loyal to the ideals of the Islamic Republic, and have increased their attacks on websites that pose a threat to Iran’s interests.
Screen Shots:
Iran Cyber Army attack on Twitter in December 2009
February 2008 Attack by Iranian Hackers
Iranian Cyber Army attack on the Chinese Search Engine Baidu
