non-technical attackers to do this with a just a few mouse clicks have been found on sale for up to US$500. Online crime is now big business.
In all of this, one unanswered question remains. Who was responsible for GhostNet? “It’s convenient to have privateers. People who are given the king’s warrant to act on his behalf, but who are kept at arm’s length,” says Rafal Rohozinski, principal analyst at the IWF and co-author of the report. He likens cyberspace to the high seas of old, which were populated by what amounted to freelance warships sanctioned by the state. “I think these are third-party actors. Whether they’re deliberately commissioned, protected or allowed to raise money from other activities that are overlooked, I don’t know.”
In China, more than perhaps anywhere else in the world, there is a bountiful supply of such cyber-swashbucklers. Who knows how many other treasure chests people may have buried in the world’s networks — or whether we will ever be able to prove the true identity of those that put them there?
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