China Hosting Massive Hacking Industry?

The aftermath of Google's spat with the People's Republic of China has laid bare China's hacker factories, which, according to a veteran hacker, consists of thousands of hackers capable of creating new hacking tools and tens of thousands of hackers who have had a basic training in mounting a cyber attack.

Meanwhile, web hacking forums across the country are filled with messages from hackers willing to offer hacking tutorials for a small price, something that's reminiscent of the kind of factories that you're likely to find in China's sprawling mega cities.

China, the largest, most populated country in the world, also has the biggest internet user base with around 400 million people, which has led to the rise in the popularity of the art of hacking.

Commenting on the issue, Liu Deliang, director of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Cyberlaw Studies in Beijing, said in a statement to Financial Times that “Chinese hackers haven’t even moved on to targeting online banking on a major scale, let alone the international market. There’s just too rich a harvest for them here right now.”

The rise in the profession of hacking has caused an alarming increase in the number of cyber attacks faced by Chinese internet users, with most cyber attacks involving viruses, trojans and malicious software.