Canoe

Monday, April 30, 2001

Canada base for cyberwar?

By ROB GRANATSTEIN-- The Toronto Sun

Combatants in the world's first publicized cyberwar may use security-lax Canada as a safe haven to launch their attacks.

The United States government is expecting Chinese hackers to try to deface and crash American sites this week in response to the recent spy plane incident.

The increased hacking activity is expected to run until May 7, which is also the two-year anniversary of the bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

Canadian sites could be a target from either side, said computer security expert Gus Malezis.

"China could use Canadian sites as practice sites or to attack U.S. sites," said Malezis, general manager of Network Associates.

Canada is especially susceptible because of its lack of security software on computers and networks.

There's an increased level of warning because the FBI's cybercrime arm said last week that Chinese hackers have talked of increasing their hits. A smattering of American sites have already been attacked by hackers claiming to be from China.

The cyberwar is not expected to have the impact of the Melissa virus, which caused more than $5 billion in damage. But damage could still run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

CBC

Mon Apr 30, 6:56 am

U.S. Web Sites Vandalized

The FBI and Federal Computer Incident Response Center are investigating hacker attacks on two government web sites. The Department of Labor and Health and Human Services' web sites were both vandalized Saturday. Officials believe the hackers are from China. The "Washington Post" reports U.S. hackers have broken into dozens of Chinese sites since an American aircraft collided with a Chinese plane four weeks ago.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), April 30, 2001