China airs documentary proving military university is hacking U.S. targets 

 

For a long time now there has been suspicion that China is a hotbed of hacking activity either endorsed or ignored by the government and targeting foreign individuals, companies, and even governments.

The Chinese government has always denied this, but high-profile pull outs such as that threatened by Google last year, demonstrate there is definitely something going on, and now we have proof hacking tools are being developed and attacks carried out at official institutions in the country.

In July, a documentary full of military propaganda was aired on TV across China. The footage happened to contain proof that a Chinese military university is using hacking software it has developed along with compromised U.S. IP addresses to target dissident groups.

The damning footage only lasts for 6 seconds, but that’s all we need to see the evidence. The screen you see above taken from the documentary shows a piece of software developed at the Electrical Engineering University of China’s People’s Liberation Army. The compromised IP being used is 138.26.72.17, which belongs to the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

With the IP selected the attack target is selected from a drop-down list. In this case it is Minghui.org which belongs to the Falun Gong spiritual discipline. Due to its size and independence the communist Chinese government viewed Falun Gong as a threat and banned it in the late 90s. Now it seems, they are remotely attempting to wipe it out completely if they can.

With the IP ready to use, and the target selected, the bottom left button is pressed in the video and the attack starts.

By including the footage by mistake or otherwise, it forms clear proof that at least one university in China is actively developing hacking tool and targeting overseas locations. The fact that this university is directly funded by the People’s Liberation Army either means they aren’t keeping an eye on what students are doing, or this is encouraged. The fact the footage was recorded and put in an official documentary suggests the latter.

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