China busts large commercial hacking operation

China has closed down what it is believed to be the country’s biggest commercial operation to train computer hackers, the New York Times reported. Police in Hubei province in November arrested three people and seized money and equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in connection with Black Hawk Safety Net. The website, which was started in 2005, is said to have been used to raise more than US$1 million in membership fees from 12,000 subscribers who received software tools for penetrating computer security systems and online accounts. The site also had another 170,000 free members. It is unclear why news of the crackdown was withheld until now. It has been suggested that, following Google’s reports of sophisticated hacking operations in emanating from China, Beijing wants to reassure the world that it is tough on cyber-security violations.