Dharmsala, October 31 – Computers of the Tibetan government-in-exile and its support groups around the world have been hit by a major virus attack over the last month which the Tibetans fear could be the work of the Chinese government, officials said.
The computers have been targeted by e-mails originating in China and containing what appears to be a custom-made virus, said Jigme Tsering, the manager of the Tibetan Computer Resource Center. The cyber attack against the government-in-exile, its overseas offices, and Tibet support groups worldwide, may be an attempt by the Chinese government to spy on Tibetan exiles and their supporters, Tsering said.
“I think they’re looking for information about our activities, about His Holiness the Dalai Lama, about his schedule,” he said. The attacks intensified ahead of a major conference of Tibet support groups in Prague earlier this month. The Dalai Lama and the head of the exile government, Samdhong Rinpoche, both attended the conference.
Virus attacks on the exiled government’s network have been taking place for at least two years, but Tsering said the latest is the most intense yet.
“It’s a very high attack. I can’t believe this,” he said. “I’m spending about four hours a day to protect our system.” E-mails containing the viruses have been disguised as messages from officers of the government-in-exile, or as Microsoft operating system files.
The International Campaign for Tibet said in a statement that it had traced e-mails containing the virus to an Internet company based in Beijing. After the news of the attack spread, the attackers changed mailing addresses two weeks ago, making them appear to belong to Tibet support groups.
The exiled government’s network, which contains about 400 computers, is well protected, said Tsering, but those of the Tibet support groups are more vulnerable to the attack. The attackers may be trying to target the exile government system via the support groups, he said.
Authorities in China were not immediately available for comment. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 amid a failed revolt against Chinese rule and lives in exile in Dharmsala in northern India. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for advocating nonviolent resistance to Chinese rule.
