Cyberattack Targets Chinese Human Rights Websites

The websites of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), Independent Chinese Pen (ICPC), New Century News, Canyu and Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch (CRLW) were attacked on January 23 and 24 by hackers of an unknown origin.

A distributed denial of service (DDOS) brought down the websites for approximately 16 hours. At the height of the incident, the frequency of the attack was at 2GB per second. It was the most intense attack that their Internet Service Provider has experienced in the history of their business.

Prior to this DDOS attack, malware was installed on the server of the websites for CHRD and New Century News. Some of the attacks have coordinated with "sensitive" dates for the country of China.