DHARAMSHALA, August 13: Web security experts say the Chinese language website of the Tibetan government in exile has been attacked by some malicious software that can infect a visitor’s computer, the latest in a series of cyber attacks against the Tibetan exiles. The software can be used for spying on its visitors, according to Moscow based Kaspersky Lab.
Confirming the attack, Sangay Kep of the China Desk, which manages the site’s content, confirmed the attack and requested its visitors to stay away from the site until the problem is fixed by the exile government’s IT experts.
The Tibetan Computer Resource Center (TCRC) is finding the source of the malware and will fix the virus.
“The website has faced hackers before but so far this has been the most malicious”, Kep added.
However, the exile government’s spokesperson Tashi Phuntsok has been cited by Reuters as saying technicians were able to restore it early Tuesday.
The official website of the 78 year old Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama has not been attacked as some reports have put in their headlines. The Tibetan leader’s site is maintained by his private office.
In 2008, the English language site of the Tibetan government in exile was attacked as China used the nationwide protests to brew anti Tibetan sentiments among the Chinese public resorting to faked pictures that showed Tibetans burning the Chinese flag and breaking into Chinese owned businesses in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
The website was inaugurated by the Tibetan leader in 2000, a year before the election for the first directly elected prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile.
