A hacker who signed his name as Danny and left wishes for a
happy New Year defaced Nike (China)'s official website on
Wednesday.
The hacked website was restored about an hour later and returned
to normal operation at about 11:00 PM, the Beijing Times
reported on Thursday.?
Bold red characters in both Chinese and English appeared on the
screen against a black backdrop at the www.nike.com.cn?site.
The intruder mocked the world-famous sportswear maker, claiming the
"Nike website is just so-so" and offering wishes for a happy New
Year. He signed his name as Danny.
The Nike world website www.nike.com remained intact. The Nike
Beijing office made no immediate statement concerning the
event.
It is not known whether the hacking was related to Nike's
television ad featuring NBA star LeBron James battling an animated
kungfu master and dragons. China banned the ad earlier
this month, describing it as an insult to the country's national
dignity.
Also on Wednesday, a Beijing court found that Nike had
plagiarized the concept and design of a 28-year old Chinese flash
animator. Nike was ordered to pay 300,000 yuan (US$36,000) in
damages.
On Christmas day, the official Chinese-language website for
fast-food giant McDonald's, www.mcdonalds.com.cn, was attacked
twice by a person or persons?who?left the name
of?"Chinese Hacker."
The McDonald's (China) homepage was found at 10:00 PM to have
been replaced by a skull and crossbones made up of numbers and
letters. The words, "Chinese Hacker," appeared in bold red letters
at the top of the screen.
A paragraph in white Chinese characters read, "(We) strongly
protest the official McDonald's website listing Taiwan as a
country, Taiwan is an indispensable part of China. Any illusion of
separating Taiwan from China or hampering the reunification of the
Straits will be smashed! We have only one China."
At 11:15 the defaced homepage was modified by an apparently more
moderate hacker, who deleted the skull and crossbones and edited
the text to read, "Although it is wrong of McDonald's to list
Taiwan as a country, we should not have done this. Amiability
brings wealth."
The website did not resume normal operations until the afternoon
of December 26.
(China Daily, China.org.cn?December 31, 2004)