Dalai Lama’s Chinese Website Hacked

{{Hackers have attacked Dalai Lama’s Chinese-language website, installing an unidentified piece of malware which could have compromised visitors’ computers, a spokesperson said.}}

The brief attack targeted the Tibet.net, which is the official site of the Tibetan government-in-exile, providing information about the parliament, cabinet, administrative departments and public offices.

“We are a prominent target for attacks by Chinese hackers,” Tashi Phuntsok, a spokesperson for the exiled government based in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala, told media.

“I assume they do it to steal our documents, disable our communication systems or spy on people who visit our sites,” he added.

Later on Tuesday, the website was functioning again and the virus had been removed.

Kurt Baumgartner, a researcher at Kaspersky Lab, a global manufacturer of antivirus software based in Moscow, detected the attack late on Monday and said the website had been “strategically compromised” as a result.

The attack involved the installation of a type of malware called a “backdoor” on users’ computers, Baumgartner wrote on a blog maintained by the cyber-security firm.

{wirestory}