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Industry chain behind hacker attacks on government websites

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-03-30 17:59

Why do hackers favor government websites?

Among the many websites, why are government websites always the hackers’ target? Experts, such as Zhu Quan, of the Computer Application Institute of China Nuclear Industry, said there were three main reasons.

First, government websites usually enjoy high ranks on search engines and have a large number of page views, so hackers can get more zombie computers and offer more hits to the Web pages of their customers.

Second, some government websites are less advanced in security protection, vulnerable to cyber attacks and can be cracked easily. Hacking against the government websites is mainly to use the platform rather than stealing information, so some website administrators pay less attention to the security threat, with some website servers having no firewall installed.

Third, because some government websites offer services to check exam results and qualification certificate number verification, they become the targets of some people who want to modify, add or delete private information for illegal objectives by hiring hackers at a high price.

For instance, in 2008, the website of the Department of Health in Jiangxi province was attacked and a false Certificate of Licensed Practicing Physician was added; in 2009, a network engineer cracked into the website of Traffic Police Corps Vehicle Administration System of Hubei province to make license plates for smuggled vehicles.

Generally speaking, the security level of these government sites is relatively high, but the potential profits also encourage hackers to break the law.