Some U.S. hackers also have focused attacks on disabling Chinese Web sites. Traffic from China probing Web sites for weaknesses has intensified in recent days, security groups said. Next week could be significant for Chinese hackers because May 4 is the anniversary of a 1919 protest in China over government concessions to foreign powers, and May 7 is the two- year anniversary of the U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. May 1 is May Day, an international workers holiday. Politically Motivated Politically motivated hacking is on the rise, Paller said, citing conflicts in the Middle East and between Taiwan and China that have spilled over into cyberspace.
Security experts have a mixed record on forecasting potential threats.
Many were wrong in predicting a slew of computer viruses tied to the turn of the millennium. This time, Paller said he's concerned because computer crime related to China has been increasing with the political conflict. A U.S. hacker group called PoizonBox has defaced some 300 Chinese Internet sites, according to Web sites that track hacker activity, and some Chinese vandals have retaliated. The advisory encouraged network administrators to more closely monitor systems next week. Inc. last year, swamp Web sites with repeated traffic.