{"id":48267,"date":"2019-06-14T00:00:24","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T07:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=48267"},"modified":"2019-06-20T13:11:10","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T20:11:10","slug":"how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/","title":{"rendered":"How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nMassive\u00a0public protests<\/a>\u00a0taking place in Hong Kong over the past week are aimed at a new extradition law, known as the\u00a0Fugitive Offenders Ordinance<\/a>, that would see accused criminals extradited to mainland China to face prosecution.<\/p>\n

Hongkongers feel the law could be used to legalise the kidnapping of people who express views, and act in ways, that are\u00a0not popular with the Chinese government<\/a>. The same law could also be used to extradite tourists and visitors to China who are arrested on suspicion of having committed these crimes.<\/p>\n

Protesters want the bill scrapped. For now, debate of the legislation has been\u00a0postponed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Organisers say\u00a0one million people<\/a>\u00a0turned out for the protests, while police estimate the number was around 240,000. Either way, it was a significant number of Hong Kong\u2019s 7.5 million population. Commentators on Twitter remarked on how well organised the protesters were.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

So, how did they do it?<\/p>\n

Protesters across the world are using new technologies to organise. Social media platforms were used to share information about the Hong Kong protests. And messaging apps, such as Telegram and WhatsApp, were essential for coordinating with other protesters.<\/p>\n

Telegram as a protest tool<\/h4>\n

In choosing a messaging app, organisers are looking to communicate effectively while avoiding surveillance. Telegram, which launched in 2013, has become a more secure competitor to WhatsApp.<\/p>\n

Telegram says it has\u00a0standard end-to-end encryption<\/a>\u00a0for its chats, to prevent spying on the contents of communications.<\/p>\n

There is the \u201ccloud chats\u201d option for group messaging. Telegram also allows for \u201csecret chats\u201d between two people. These chats are stored on the phones rather than in the cloud, and can be set to self-destruct at a time determined by the user.<\/p>\n

Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram hasn\u2019t suffered major hacks in the recent past. Earlier this year, WhatsApp was\u00a0reportedly<\/a>\u00a0infected with the Pegasus spyware as part of an attempt to access the messages of a UK-based human rights lawyer who was working on a case for civil rights activists. During the 2014 protests, WhatsApp was also\u00a0reportedly attacked to spy on Hongkongers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Telegram is a\u00a0partially open source<\/a>\u00a0platform. Anyone can contribute to strengthening its security by looking for and fixing vulnerabilities, which can help to prevent hacks like those from Pegasus.<\/p>\n

Telegram therefore offered Hongkongers a messaging service they could use with a bit more confidence, or so the organisers thought. But the use of spyware isn\u2019t the only method available to those who might want to disrupt the communications of protesters.<\/p>\n

Telegram becomes a target<\/h4>\n

The administrator of a 30,000-member Telegram chat group, which was used to organise the protests, was arrested on Tuesday. Ivan Ip, 22, was accused of conspiring to commit a public nuisance. Ip\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0the New York Times:<\/p>\n

I never thought that just speaking on the internet, just sharing information, could be regarded as a speech crime [\u2026] I\u2019m scared that they will show up again and arrest me again. This feeling of terror has been planted in my heart.<\/em><\/p>\n

In a further show of force, Telegram was also targeted in a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack during the protests.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

DDoS attacks use botnets, which are computers that have been compromised by malicious software and then used to launch cyber attacks in an automated fashion. The owner of the computer may not even know that their property was used as a tool to suppress civil rights activists.<\/p>\n

Telegram\u2019s servers were flooded with junk communications at rate of 200-400 gigabits per second, slowing functioning of the service until it was ineffective or unusable.<\/p>\n

Based on past trends, this size of an attack is likely to have been carried out by a state actor. Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov said source IP addresses indicated the geographic location of the attacks were mainly originating in China.<\/p>\n

This disruption appears to have been coordinated to occur at the height of the protests for maximum impact, creating a chilling effect on the ability of protesters to organise and communicate.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The effect of the attack was global, impacting Telegram users in other countries like the United States. This shows how targeted internet censorship techniques in one country could punish citizens of another.<\/p>\n

Forcing protesters into a corner<\/h4>\n

By making Telegram unusable, the cyber attack redirects the communications of organisers onto less secure platforms, where vulnerabilities can be exploited.<\/p>\n

Communications on these platforms might be more easily intercepted, and metadata and location information might be available from telecommunications companies and ISPs. This can heighten protesters\u2019 fears of being identified and prosecuted for their political actions.<\/p>\n

The power of governments to attack and disrupt the communications of protesting citizens has a chilling effect on the universal right to march and to protest. Social media hacking tools, which are sold to repressive governments to spy on their own citizens, further erode the right to free speech and to organise political activity.<\/p>\n

In this environment, demand for secure social media apps will only increase out of a basic necessity to break free from surveillance, and for protection against authoritative regimes around the world.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Stanley Shanapinda is a Research Fellow at La Trobe University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massive\u00a0public protests\u00a0taking place in Hong Kong over the past week are aimed at a new extradition law, known as the\u00a0Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, that would see accused criminals extradited to mainland China to face prosecution. Hongkongers feel the law could be used to legalise the kidnapping of people who express views, and act in ways, that […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":48268,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[295291],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-48267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-politics","tag-hong-kong"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Massive\u00a0public protests\u00a0taking place in Hong Kong over the past week are aimed at a new extradition law, known as the\u00a0Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, that would see accused criminals extradited to mainland China to face prosecution. Hongkongers feel the law could be used to legalise the kidnapping of people who express views, and act in ways, that […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-14T07:00:24+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-20T20:11:10+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/noextradition.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"383\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-14T07:00:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-20T20:11:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":858,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/noextradition.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Hong Kong\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business and Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/\",\"name\":\"How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/noextradition.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-14T07:00:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-20T20:11:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/noextradition.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/noextradition.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":383},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"Massive\u00a0public protests\u00a0taking place in Hong Kong over the past week are aimed at a new extradition law, known as the\u00a0Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, that would see accused criminals extradited to mainland China to face prosecution. Hongkongers feel the law could be used to legalise the kidnapping of people who express views, and act in ways, that […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2019-06-14T07:00:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-06-20T20:11:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":383,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/noextradition.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters","datePublished":"2019-06-14T07:00:24+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-20T20:11:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/"},"wordCount":858,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/noextradition.jpg","keywords":["Hong Kong"],"articleSection":["Business and Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/","name":"How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/noextradition.jpg","datePublished":"2019-06-14T07:00:24+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-20T20:11:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/noextradition.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/noextradition.jpg","width":680,"height":383},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48267"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=48267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}