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China stomps cybercrook training outfit - China - Asia - Hacking - Technology

China stomps cybercrook training outfit

Chinese authorities have closed down a firm that allegedly trained hackers to develop spyware and launch cyberattacks.

John Leyden | The Register | Published: 02/08/2010 12:50

Police in the central Chinese province of Hubei province arrested three people when they closed down Black Hawk Safety Net, described by the official Xinhua news agency as running the country's biggest hacker training website.

Black Hawk Safety Net offered hacker tools and Trojan software to 12,000 VIP paid-up members. Another 170,000 had signed up to the site for the reduced set of tools available to casual, non-paying members. The firm is also accused of running 'hacking for cybercrooks' courses.

The arrests follow widely reported accusations that hackers based in China hacked into the systems of Google, Adobe and 32 other blue chip firms organisations back in December. Cyber-espionage attacks against big firms and government departments around the globe have been going on for five years or more, and the so-called Operation Aurora attacks are only notable because Google went public and pointed the finger of blame towards China.

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