Security worry over China's 'hacking schools'

Matt Conway

Last Updated: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 23:08:00 +1000

Computer hacking schools are becoming increasingly popular in China - posing a threat to information security within the country and internationally.

According to Chinese media reports, schools set up to teach the craft are earning $US50 million from aspiring hackers every year.

"In China you do have an awful lot of young men with a lot of time on their hands, who are very competent with computer code, and I think that's key," says Jeremy Goldkorn, who runs danwei.org, an online magazine in China.

"I think with the number of users in China it's inevitable that the methods of how to hack will be shared."

Real impact

In recent weeks, the Chinese hacking threat has been felt in Australia, where the web site for the Melbourne International Film Festival has repeatedly been broken into by Chinese computer users protesting a film representing Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer.

The Chinese Government has shown it takes hacking offences quite seriously.

In a recent case, a man from Hubei province was found guilty of substituting an image of an official on a government website with an image of a woman wearing a bikini.

He was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Spread of skills

Mr Goldkorn says information on how to hack into computer systems is bound to spread, but doubts the most harmful skills are part of the lessons.

"I think it's unlikely that anybody who is a really advanced hacker would openly offer courses teaching their most advanced skills. I would imagine that, you know, people involved in this are probably teaching the basics," he said.

Dr Asha Rowe is the head of teaching for Information Security at Australia's RMIT University.

She says the term "hacking" conjures images of outsiders attacking computer systems, but in reality, "the major problem is actually insider attacks from people who already have some sort of access."

However hacking is a real threat not just in China but around the world, she says.

Australian schools also teach some methods - but for different purposes - and with different advertising.

"We do have a number of programs in Australia itself which teach 'pen testing,' or penetration testing, which is a security tool. If you want to prevent your website or your servers being hacked then you have to learn what are the holes in there, and have to learn to fix them," Dr Rowe said.

"These schools are often given names like 'ethical hacking,' or 'pen testing' to make it more attractive to students. But whether that could then be taken as hacking schools is maybe stretching the truth."