Overseas-based dissident groups have been bombarded with Internet virus and hacking attacks from mainland sources in what they say is a co-ordinated attempt to disrupt their operations and spy on their computer networks.
The targeted groups are the same ones whose Web sites this month became inaccessible to mainland users through the Google search engine, leading some to suggest that the attacks are part of a wider campaign to crack down on what Beijing views as subversive activity.
The dissident groups say the scale of the attacks goes far beyond what they have experienced in the past, making it unlikely that it is the work of amateur Chinese hackers. Some of the attacks have been traced to China Telecom regional offices in several provinces.
'In some cases we can pinpoint the actual workstation, office, and street address that the [attack] originated from,' said Greg Walton, an Internet activist who works with Tibetan freedom groups. 'If this is Chinese hackers playing around, then they are Chinese hackers employed by a state-owned industry operating on the state's time.'
The attacks have come in the form of hundreds of e-mails using false or spoof addresses which appear to come from a friendly source. In some cases, the e-mails appear to originate from the Tibetan government-in-exile.
The e-mails contain so-called Trojan horse programs which seek out files and attempt to e-mail them to an address on the mainland. Other files open so-called back doors, allowing hackers to take control of the target computer through its Internet connection.
'It has never been as bad as things have become in recent months,' Mr Walton said.
