April 21, 2008

Chinese Hackers Take Down SportsNetwork

Michael Arrington

100 comments »


The SportsNetwork, a privately held sports website located in Hatboro, PA, has been under attack from hackers for about 24 hours. Early Sunday the site was defaced with “Tibet was, is and will always be part of China” messages. Engineers returned the site to normal, but late Sunday evening the site was again hacked and taken offline. The message in the image second above is now all that can be viewed on the site.

The site itself is relatively small, attracting just 264,000 visitors in February 2008 (Comscore, worldwide). But it also powers parts of other large sports sites such as CNN/SI. The domain sports.si.cnn.com, for example, is also down.

I called the general phone number at the site at 3:20 am PST and someone answered right away, confirming the hack and the fact that a team of engineers is trying to get the site back online.

It’s likely that this kind of activity will increase as Chinese frustration over western Olympic protests continues. Some Chinese are simply adding a “Love China” icon to their chat messages. Others are taking much stronger measures, and speculation continues as to whether the Chinese governmet is sponsoring the attacks.

Lots of buzz on this on Twitter right now (where most news seems to be breaking these days). Thanks to Christine Lu for the tip. More here as well.

Update: It’s possible that the hackers actually thought they were taking down CNN’s sports site, based on early Twitter messages boasting about it.

Update2: Christine Lu was able to grab an image of the original hack (now top image above), which links back to hackcnn.com. It’s almost certain that they thought the site was CNN’s sports property.

  • Sphere It

Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

  1. adventureran warped
  2. Hacker China Men-deface situs SportsNetwork.com | Terasi Rumah
  3. ArthurGuy » The West vs China
  4. SportsNetwork as collateral damage
  5. SportsNetwork hackeada « Nataniel. Notas sobre as TIC
  6. Kinijos hakeriai laužo svetaines iš patriotizmo : nežinau.lt
  7.   SportsNetwork is hacked and affects CNN — winandmac.com
  8. TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » 中国人ハッカー、CNNのつもりで(?)SportsNetwork乗っ取る
  9. CNBLOGG / Kinesiske hackere herjer med SportsNetwork
  10. The Savvy Boomer
  11. Blog Assignment #10 - Web 2.0 « Tyler Sevcik’s Weblog
  12. Tibetian Issues Take Heavy Casualties in Malware and Exploits | TrendLabs | Malware Blog - by Trend Micro
  13. www.roxynarty.pl » Blog Archive » [Fantasy Sports 2.0] Link Roundup for April 22, 2008
  14. SlideShare Slammed with DDOS Attacks from China
  15. SlideShare Slammed with DDOS Attacks from China | crown.MONKEY
  16. The new arms race | The Sixth W
  17. Twitturly Cracks The TwitterMeme Nut
  18. socialinnovation3.com
  19. adventureran warped » We boycot, they hack
  20. www.ubraniaroxy.pl » Blog Archive » Twitturly Cracks The TwitterMeme Nut

Comments

RSS feed for comments on this post.

  1. Hiren P.

    Michael,

    You can read stats from the future ( feb 2009 comscore?).

    Let me know what’s the next big thing ;)

  2. Michael Arrington

    yes well that would be nice wouldn’t it. typo fixed. :-)

  3. 113.com

    :?:

  4. Dalai Lama Free Tibet

    Dear Sports Network Management:

    You guys are a bunch of “smart” folks, how the fxxk did you “find out” you are hacked by a “political entity”, your mean CCP or us?!

    Dalai

  5. Mike

    Down Again?… damn

  6. Rajiv Singh

    Fockin’ Chinese commies. Dubya should nuke ‘em.

  7. Scabr

    China-US cyberwar?

  8. John

    False flag? If people know getting “defaced” will get their sites featured on websites like Techcrunch, I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of this “attacks”.

  9. emma

    So, not only are Chinese hackers delusional they also can’t tell the difference between CNN Sports (why try and take down that?) and another sports website!

  10. OnkelSchark

    It IS a CNN Sport property, Mike:

    http://sports.si.cnn.com/

  11. christinelu

    …unfortunately, regardless of whether hacks like this are a reaction to Olympic protests or CNN Jack Cafferty’s recent remarks…it only serves to add to the downward spiral on both sides before the Olympics. :o(

  12. Love China

    Great job!

  13. wayland

    i wonder, how guys like christine Lu can contact with Michael. I’m trying to contact him for half year and i got nothing. I really have some big news for you Michael please contact me <3

  14. henryshen

    Chinese are not as weak as 30 years ago~~~believe me , China is becoming one of the strongest countries ever.

  15. yangguang

    中国是伟大的国家,在很多的国际事物中中国都很积极,一些敌视中国的人从而污蔑中国并且有很多不了解真相的人也参与其中,

  16. ceejayoz

    What a mature response. Rabid nationalists of any nation are idiots, and stupid stunts like this do nothing but make their immaturity obvious.

  17. Brad Jashinsky

    This is the CNN Sports website through Sports Illustrated, and it never went down so I’m not sure what the other subdomain in the article is:

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/?cnn=yes

  18. Evil is Evil

    Way to show just how much of a bunch of Fascists these Nationalist pricks really are — from their own actions.

  19. frank

    A good lesson to those liar!!!

  20. Cyber-Terrorists

    Hmm… I wonder if the US will pass a law similar to the anti-cyberterrorism law getting worked on in the EU. Then CNN could sue China for the identities of the hackers, and prosecute them — or perhaps sue China itself, and take restitution for any $ lost from Chinese assets held in the US. So much for Nationalist pride then. We’d start looking forward to Nationalist attacks as an additional revenue stream, courtesy of the Chinese people themselves! Hahaha Zap!

  21. LOL

    “It’s possible that the hackers actually thought they were taking down CNN’s sports site, based on early Twitter messages boasting about it”

    LOL what a bunch of ‘tards.

  22. Brick Marketing

    Agreeing with the other posts — this does nothing for their cause.

  23. ohnopirates

    Reading the responses, I really wonder if the chinese are the retardedly nationalistic ones.

    They targeted that site because CNN in particular has become a focal point for running stories seen as anti-chinese. Part of the reason that there exists speculation these attacks are “state sponsored” is because the state-owned media in China is pointing to CNN as its whipping boy in particular (and cnn, in turn, is biting back). And yes, it’s not the main CNN site, they found an outlying, likely easy to hack property associated with the specific aspect of CNN they disliked (sports, i.e. their coverage of the olympics) - hardly “‘tards”

    CNN is running bullshit, essentially propaganda pieces against the Chinese, it’s only fair to respond in kind.

    What no one seems to get is that for the entire nation the Olympics were seen as China’s big coming out party, is it any surprise that they’re throwing a tantrum when someone spits on the cake?

  24. fascists

    “Reading the responses, I really wonder if the chinese are the retardedly nationalistic ones.”

    Since it isn’t Chinese sites that are getting hacked, I think it’s pretty obvious which ones are the Terrorists.

  25. www.yahoomosh.net

    china is a peace love county , all chinese people are kindly ,friendly ,warmhearted, to all foreign friends who will learn more about china by himself but not belive the lies just like cnn had say!

    NO cnn ! the liar who want to uglify peace-loved china!
    NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !NO cnn !

    all the chinese who love our county will sponsoring the attacks without the chinese government sponsor.

    love my county ! great china!

  26. Mike

    Microsoft-IIS powa!

  27. www.yahoomosh.net

    Please see China without prejudice!

    say ,before you know the truth in China!

    the government do the best to improve the live level of her people !
    the government do the best to help her people !
    the government do the best to love her people !

    I hope all western friends can “say ,before you know the truth in China!”

  28. Hong Xiaowan

    1.Another fake news? This time from CNN related website?
    2.How do they know the hackers from China?
    3.A special promote way?
    4.Deceiving everyone by torturing CNN itself?

  29. Andrew

    I’m not chinese and I don’t really condone the whole hacking thing, but you gotta admit the coverage has been very one sided. If the same shit was happening in U.S. Tibetians would be called terrorists.

    But since Tibet is anti-our “enemy” we side with them side.

    Kinda like the whole Israel-Palesetine thing, Israel does plenty of bad things but that never gets covered. Why? Once again because they are the enemy of our enemy.

    But yeah this whole thing was stupid because its not like the media will change their ways, and it gives them more ammo to label chinese terrorists/criminals.

  30. Cyanide

    Agree with Andrew (29) all the way.

  31. Oh boy...

    @ yahoomosh

    Hacking sites isn’t the way to build goodwill and trust with Westerners (or anyone). Maybe it makes the Nationalists’ pride feel a bit better to hack a second-tier site, but it definitely doesn’t help their cause.

    Cyber-terrorism is never a good idea if one is looking for a sympathy, like those who say “know the truth before you judge”. Every person tho tries to go to that site, and gets a propaganda message instead, will instantly make a very unfavorable judgement of the Chinese. VERY unfavorable.

  32. Gad2

    Oh, the Chinese…everyone keeps telling me they are a proud set of people. I am sure they are, so why the heck can’t they overthrow the bunch of butchers who rule them to get their country back to civilization

  33. Andrew

    @32 Once again your perception is basically based on the media. And hey different cultures have different standards, I don’t see you bitching about African countries or other asian countries..even though they have the same crap going on. Why? Because media is pretty much ignoring those…but since China is the flavor of the decade they focus on it.

    As far as overthrowing, thats just retarded, lets forget for the moment that asian society is very authoritative, lets forget that its a different culture for whom that type of society acceptable…how exactly do you propose for a bunch of peasants with pitchforks to take on the army?

    Face it the American revolution would have never happened today. Why? Because now you can only use guerilla warfare. Because the levels of weaponry is too different.

    Back then it was musket against musket. Now you’d have a few rednecks with guns and a few bazookas against assault weapons, tanks, Humvees, choppers and hey if you do gain a base of operations and really build it up, you can always get nuked. You also no longer have secure communications, can be seen doing everything you do with satellite imagery, and you’d be hindered in your operations because you’d have to rely on oil, unless you wanted to walk

  34. michael

    “Update: It’s possible that the hackers actually thought they were taking down CNN’s sports site, based on early Twitter messages boasting about it.”
    You are honestly quoting the twitter account “zedongmao?” You think that the owner of that account was actually involved in the attacks? Besides the account name, have you read the other tweets?

    ” I must wake up @KimJongil’s dad, we have a lot issues to talk. Good son @KimJongil, where is your father.”
    ” @izlmichael You will be punished. How can you call your Chairman Mao the dead corpse even though I have been pickled for a long time.”
    ” @JackCafferty No, but I like the fist lady of France. My wife Jiang Qing likes LV, and she always buy a lot of things in Carrefour, beca”

    Uhhhhhhh…What you posted is obviously just a joke in response to the news of the attack…

  35. Lance

    Wow, it is really easy to tell who wrote their post in Chinese and then used google translate to post it english. The lack of periods, the odd grammar which is machine generated engrish.

    I wouldn’t be too upset, the Chinese government will crack down on these anti-west protesters just like every other group that marches down the street. In fact you can read the Economist about this very thing if you don’t believe me. The government there abhors any sort of social unrest and will certainly not tolerate any demonstrations against tourists who are visiting. Could you imagine how ugly Olympic coverage would get if they had to use tear gas to disperse anti-west protesters during the games. Yikes. So much for a coming-out onto the world stage.

  36. Andrew

    @35 I don’t think you can count the whole grammar thing more. Thanks to Microsoft Word, chances are any person posting on Techcrunch who is younger than 25-28 has bad grammar.

  37. Professor Gubler

    Andrew, I was just about to post the same thing. As Americans, our grammar online is horrible. There is still a difference in automatically translated grammar, but with how poorly we write, it is often hard to tell a difference.

  38. HAHA

    An Attack! Well my guess is the libs will want to arrange a meeting with the Chinese Hackers and discuss American surrender due to 3 server deaths.

  39. HAHA

    @29 Ahh yes the moral equivalence.

  40. A

    Nuke all slant-eyed chinese mongrels.

  41. Folks

    CNN is a big liar anyway, i wish they disappear soon, i don’t watch it anyway.

  42. Hong Xiaowan

    I just worry about the hacker. If China police ask SportsNetwork the details of the hacking……anti CNN no problem, but hack CNN is Crime in China. This guy make get 6 to 18 month prison.

    Hi, SportsNetwork, will you open the logs?

  43. Jorge

    Fuck China. It’s people rape their land and each other.

    The only thing China has successfully accomplished related to the Olympics is vandalizing a small sports website.

    Good job, fellas. Now how about you take your nationalistic jingo pride and shove it up your filth-ridden asses. Oh wait…with all the smog in the air, and the pollution in the water, you may not be able to find your own asses.

    THE TRUTH ABOUT MODERN CHINA: IT HAS FAILED AT EVERYTHING IT HAS EVER TRIED.

  44. puh-leeeze

    can’t we all just get along?

  45. Rogue Domainer

    LOL @ 38

    @33, your an idiot if you think they’re couldn’t be another revolution in China or anywhere. It all depends on the resolve of the opposing sides. If your like Tibetans, and resort to demonstrations and sporadic outbursts of violents it may take decades if ever to gain peace. (depends upon the resolve of the opposing force.) But say China’s government started getting sloppy, and corruption and public funds hoarding became more rampant. I’d bet in a second the Chinese would want a change, and individuals in the government would take advantage of that populism, and ride that wave to the top, and form a new government.

  46. ZiZi

    For all the idiots that are saying “nuke china”. just a friendly reminder… china has nukes.
    thank you.

  47. Jackie Chan

    I think this just goes to show you how immature many younger generation chinese nationals are after a lifetime of propaganda and nationalistic bs. They can’t tolerate opposing viewpoints without acts of violence or retribution of some sort. Nothing new, they’ve done the same before. A while back they had the same sort of nationalistic nonsense going on against japan. Here’s a suggestion, take a look in your own backyard folks. It’s amazing what kind of stuff is going on today there, child kidnapping/labor/abandonment, political prisoners, death penalties for people with no resources to fight the state, organ harvesting, blah blah blah. And yes, I know no country is perfect - certainly not the US, but at least we can take the criticism like big boys. The chinese response always seems to be to silence any opposing viewpoint.

    Grow up, children. You may not always like what other people say but you’ll just have to live with it. Besides, criticism doesn’t necessarily indicate a lack of respect or fondness for another country as a whole or it’s people, but the veil of nationalism clouds peoples’ interpretation.

  48. Oh boy...

    @ZiZi — They’re probably 12 year old kids who don’t realize the consequences of any sort of nuclear use anyway. Chernobyl’s radiation fallout went all over the world 3 times before it dissipated in the atmosphere, and the counties nearest the meltdown are still suffering the effects (large cancer rates, etc.) of the radioactive rain.

    Pay no attention to the idiots & children. They don’t know that any lagescale use of nukes by anyone (such as how close Pakistan and India got to it a few years ago) would mean the end of the world. Period. There would BE no “winner”. Whether the other country has nukes (which China does) or not…it’s still game-over for everyone.

  49. Governments lie

    @29

    Yo, andrew, the coverage is one-sided, slanted towards China via their Ministry of Truth. How about we put some good old free and independent media in there to see what’s really happening. Otherwise speculation or propaganda ends up as the news. To those hackers, yeah, way to win people’s hearts and minds, you buffoons.

  50. Oh boy...

    “Grow up, children. You may not always like what other people say but you’ll just have to live with it. Besides, criticism doesn’t necessarily indicate a lack of respect or fondness for another country as a whole or it’s people, but the veil of nationalism clouds peoples’ interpretation.”

    Amen.

    Part of becoming a world power, is coming to grips with the fact that the rest of the world will probably protest a lot of what you do. Just like the Western countries (EU, USA, Australia, etc. etc. etc.) have been seeing for the past couple of hundred years.

    The rest of the world has learned how to deal with it like grown-ups — a hundred years ago. It’s time China’s Nationalists grow up too.

  51. sd

    @29, agree all the way. we shouldn’t embarrass ourselves. first Israel, now Tibet.

  52. no one in particular

    internationalism is the solution. not nationalism. that applies to both china and USA.

  53. rico

    Tibet was invaded by China. Tibet is not Chinese. You can put a Tibetan and a Chink next to each other and clearly see there is a huge difference. The Tibetan language is not Chinese. Tibetan culture is not Chinese. The Chinks are lying through their teeth when they claim Tibet is part of China. So there is chinese nationalism in a nutshell –a bunch of bold faced lying, thieving capitaist fascists who are desperately trying to validate their atrocities…just like the Bush regime. I think maybe we should just firewall China off the internet since they can’t seem to behave. And defacing a website is just dumb…if thats the best chinks can do, they’re a joke.

  54. Pandrogas

    The US won’t intervene here because of our trade relations with China. Closest major power that could potentialy intervene might be Russia and they really don’t care. EU isn’t going to do much more than whine about and the UN requires troops from countries that hold trade relations with China as well.

    We basically have a media / internet war, but no one is going to come out the wiser or the winner because the bullets aren’t real. With no boots on the pavement except the Chinese ones, this issue is still a moot point.

  55. American

    THE CHINESE ARE A BUNCH OF DIRT BAGS, OLD MAN JACK CAFFERTY WAS RIGHT. They keep stealing American Technology from Universities, Companies using their Commie agents (students, employees) kick em out of here.

  56. stabani

    It does seem like it’s linked to CNN. If you go to the SI website and on the dropdown for More Sports, it links to the second website

    http://sports.si.cnn.com/defau.....dexpic.htm

    So I guess the Chinese Hackers were a bit right, they just didn’t know that the site was simply being outsourced to a third party.

  57. Fire

    This is totally unprofessional. They should fired its own employees who where political involved : Adminstrator, Unionize, activists.

    I like to review all resumes again and again.

  58. Carl

    “American
    April 21st, 2008 at 2:09 pm
    THE CHINESE ARE A BUNCH OF DIRT BAGS, OLD MAN JACK CAFFERTY WAS RIGHT. They keep stealing American Technology from Universities, Companies using their Commie agents (students, employees) kick em out of here.”

    Good job naming yourself, what a typical Ameriacan! Ignorant+Arrogant~

  59. Xiaolu Jing

    CNN definitely did wrong thing.

  60. Crazy people

    This post sound like bunch of racist cowards. You have two crazy un-tibetian activists climbing up golden gate bridge and hanging: “Free Tibet” .

    Why don’t they put huge sign say “Planet of the Apes”?

    How much education do you have? What do you know about Chairman Mao’s wife, Marxism, religion, atheism in China, and Tibet?

    None. You should be ashame to yourselves.

  61. usboy

    Take it easy. May be just bunch of Chinese teens did this. I don’t see any reason for Chinese government to support it.

  62. Inetgate

    @60

    But, China has great firewall for their internet connection.
    That firewall enable to stop any kind of such action.
    So, this is the evidence that Chinese government is giving silent approval for cracking any kind of site.

  63. Paul Hilburger

    Dear Carl (post 58): Keep your pretentious Euro-Weenie attitude to yourself. You are probably the type who protess having to work more then 30 hours a week. So typical to toss insults at americans while you always come back to us to rescue your lazy asses. Good luck with all the muslim you let in. In about 20 years any sense of culture will be lost in Eurabia. Enjoy!

  64. Paul Hilburger

    Funny how people like yahoomosh.net get passes for being proud of their ethnic heritage from enlightened western liberals, but if americans were doing the same things they would be regarded as jingoistic morons.

  65. Carc

    @61

    Are you sure you know exactly how the great firewall works?

    Plus, how do you know those hackers are Chinese inside mainland China?

  66. Oh boy...

    @ Paul — uh dude… Go back to the FOX News site with your Liberal hating. No one is giving any free passes. Nationalist = Fascist. Done deal. Being proud of your heritage is one thing (like the Irish during St. Pat’s Day, for instance). Using it as an excuse to commit cyber terrorism and Nazi-level atrocities is another.

  67. Jack Franz

    Inetgate,
    hackers can get around any government or any firewall.
    that’s why they are hackers.

    Chinese people all over the internet are furious about the defacing of China by the western media.
    Chinese government is actually trying to cool things down.

  68. Paul Hilburger

    Oh boy…oh boy, the old “Fox News” card. How original. There would be no friggin Fox news if CBS, NBC, The New York Times, NPR, etc…weren’t so ridiculous in their left wing bias. Its call blow back, you know, the excuse liberals love to give for why radical muslims want to blow up Americans. Forgetting the fact they are also killing people over Danish Cartoons and imprisoning teachers over teddy bears. Plus, I think you are confused. I am not given the brain washed Chinese hackers pass, screw em. I am going after the euro-weenie with his american bashing, like they so superior with their quasi-socialism and moral relativism. Now quick, back to “air america” before it cancelled to do low ratings.

  69. Hendra

    Next, I’d love too see Cafferty get hacked, literally, for his “Goons And Thugs” comment on the Chinese. CNN should fire his ass.

  70. How Jalilakicl

    Fire Cafferty? Please, he is hired to give his opinion. He is not an elected official.
    If the world had to suffer thru months of Rosie on the view (love her trying to explain the history of physics), then CNN should not bow to Communist pressure.

  71. David Oxley

    I don’t watch CNN or visit their site but their resiliance against commie terrorists from China certainly elevates them in my book.

    Here’s hoping CNN continues to irritate the commie regime!

  72. Law

    We are chinese, so we fight!

  73. noobalicious

    I guess when you live in a site-censored communist country, you can’t tell the difference between CNN Sports and po-dunksports.com.

    They should start hacking their news sites to actually report real news.

  74. Oh boy...

    @ Paul — “Oh boy…oh boy, the old “Fox News” card. How original. There would be no friggin Fox news if CBS, NBC, The New York Times, NPR, etc…weren’t so ridiculous in their left wing bias.”

    Pfft… the old “Left Wing Bias” card. How original, as well.

  75. Ching Chong Fuuck

    The chinese should just shut the f*up and eat CHINESE FRIED LICE.

  76. Rajiv Singh

    Fuck the Chinese scum cowards!

  77. Billy Gates

    Microsoft’s IIS is bad.
    Use FreeBSD ,Away From Being Hacked…

  78. Billy Gates

    @62
    Maybe GFW is on vacation that day.. :-)

  79. JC673

    These Chinese have no idea what we’re talking about. It’s an authoritarian gov’t, remember? Censorship, brainwashing, nationalism, you know, N. Korea stuff? Just leave them alone.

  80. st

    “What do you want from Us?”
    A Poem Dedicated to the last 150 years of this planet. By a Silent, Silent Chinese. 7th, April, 2008

    When We were called Sick man of Asia, We were called The Yellow Peril.
    When We are billed to be the next Superpower, We are called The China Threat.
    When We were closed our doors, You smuggled Opium to Open Markets.
    When We embrace Freed Trade, You blame us for Taking Away Your Jobs.
    When We were falling apart, You marched in your troops and wanted your “fair share”.
    China was broken into pieces. And You killed, burned, maimed and looted,
    Just go to the British Museum and the French Museum, you will find the proof.

    Never again, we said, We stood up and fought for our survival.
    And piece by piece we put our nation together again,
    All of a sudden, “Free Tibet” you screamed, “it was an invasion!”
    Never mind that those who shouted caused the original suffering and pain.

    When We Tried Communism, You hated us for being Communists
    When We embrace Capitalism, You hate us for being Capitalists.
    When We have a Billion People, You said we were destroying the planet.
    When We are tried limited our numbers, You said It was human rights abuse.
    When We were Poor, You think we are dogs.
    When We Loan you cash, You blame us for your debts.
    When We build our industries, You called us Polluters.
    When we made you consumer goods, You blame us for global warming.

    When We buy oil, You called that exploitation and Genocide.
    When You fight for oil, You called that Liberation.
    When We were lost in Chaos and Rampage, You wanted Rules of Law for us.
    When We uphold law and order against Violence, You called that Violating Human Rights.
    When We were silent, You said you want us to have Free Speech.
    When We were silent no more, You say we were Brainwashed-Xenophobics.

    Why do you hate us so much? We asked.
    “No,” You Answered, “We don’t hate You.”
    “We don’t Hate You either, ” We said.
    “But Do you understand us?” We said.
    “Of course We do,” You said,
    “We have AFP, CNN , BBCs and TF1!..”

    What do you really want from us?
    Think Hard first, then Answer…

    Enough is Enough, Enough Hypocrisy for this one world.
    And we, we silent Chinese, We just want One World——————a Peaceful World.
    A Silent, Silent Chinese. 7th, April, 2008

Leave a Reply

Continue the conversation in TechCrunch Forums