Is this cyber attack a bite back from the Bitcoin?
The People's Bank's official website and Weibo site was temporarily unaccessible due to a suspected hacker attack. The bank's cautious stance against the Bitcoin earlier this month and the resulting price plunge of the Digital currency is believed to be the impetus for the attack. There is speculation that this was the work of a foreign Bitcoin investor.
Up until this afternoon the bank has had no response regarding this cyber attack. According to a worker at the bank's head office, yesterday around 4 or 5 PM, the bank's computers were unable to go online for an hour. As a result bank employees simply used their cell phones to look up information. Apparently this has happened so often in the past that workers did not take much notice. By 7 o'clock the computers were up and working again.
According to sources outside the central bank, yesterday at 4 PM A hacker rendered the bank's official website unaccessible. Yesterday evening between 7 and 9 PM journalists were able to access the bank's website, Weibo and New Wave sites via Internet Explorer, 360, Firefox, Safari and other web browsers. While they were able to access the site most of the time, occasionally there would be a "unable to display website" notice. Today the website has fully recovered and is up and operational. At about 8:30 AM The website as usual issued this year's fourth quarter industrial, banking and municipal finance reports. All internet links were also accessible.
Some reports suggest that the Central Bank's website's intermittent interruption of services was due to a foreign DDOS attack. One IT expert compared it to a very popular restaurant being suddenly surrounded by a moat at dinner time. Everybody wants to go in to eat but nobody can get into the restaurant. This kind of attack, while in convenient, is unable to tamper with any of the data inside the system.
This had been a good year for the Bitcoin. The invisible, untouchable currency hit it big, with investors falling head over heels to get in on the action, inflating its price tenfold. However on December 5th the Central Bank issued a warning titled "Notice Regarding the Dangers of the Bitcoin." It summarized that the Bitcoin was obviously a fictitious product which did not meet any sort of regulation or standard of law and did not have any place on the current market as a currency." On the 16th of December the Central Bank in arranged talks with a third-party made unequivocal demands that Bitcoin not be given a trusteeship, or be able to continue business. In regards to its existing investment, Bitcoins reserve funds would be able to be recuperated before Chinese New Year and the company would not be allowed to engage in any further business. PayPal, money paid through third-party agencies expressed their full support. These measures by the Central Bank drove Bitcoin's price into the ground. Since the beginning of December Bitcoins price has fallen from 7000元 two 2000元. Experts predict that Bitcoin will be unable to recover.