Palace websites targeted by suspected Chinese hackers

Malacañang on Monday afternoon said three of its official websites were attacked by hackers whose IP addresses are assigned to Chinese networks.   In a press statement, the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson said the websites of the Official Gazette, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO), and the Presidential Museum and Library were flooded by artificial traffic.   “At around 4 o’clock in the afternoon of April 23, 2012, the PCDSPO noticed a significant spike in traffic with malicious URL requests from forged user-agents being channeled to the Official Gazette website, to the PCDSPO website, and to the Presidential Museum and Library website, causing our servers to momentarily lag,” the OPS said.   “We determined that this was a denial-of-service attack. Information gathered through our data analysis indicated that the attack originated from IP addresses assigned to Chinese networks,” it further said.   The OPS said the PCDSPO is endeavoring to maintain its websites.   “Please note that we can expect temporary disruption of service while the attack is ongoing,” it added. If it can be verified that the attacks came from China, targetting Malacañang websites significantly raises the stakes in a budding cyber conflict between anonymous Filipino and Chinese hackers claiming to commit web-based sabotage on behalf of their nations' interests. The Philippines and China have been engaged in a staring match at Panatag Shoal, claimed by both countries.   Last Friday, the website of University of the Philippines was attacked by alleged pro-China hackers.   Posted with the message “We come from China! Huangyan Island is Ours!” is a map of China’s so-called "9-dash line," supposedly indicating the superpower’s territorial claim in its southern seas —which extends to the Philippines and even to Malaysia’s coastline   That was followed by attacks by Philippines-based hackers of Chinese websites. Neither government has publicly condoned or encouraged the attacks. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs condemned the cyber-attacks last Sunday, describing them as “counter-productive.”   “We denounce such cyber attacks regardless from which side they are coming from,” said DFA assistant secretary and spokesman Raul Hernandez. “They are counter-productive and will only add to the tensions. We call on both Filipino and Chinese netizens to be more responsible and encourage dialogue rather than discord..” — Amita O. Legaspi/KBK/HS, GMA News