(Minghui.org) To Falun Dafa practitioners who have accounts with Qingxin Forum and those who have recently visited Qingxin Forum:
According to reliable sources, provincial departments in charge of Internet monitoring were responsible for the recent arrests of Falun Dafa practitioners in some cities in mainland China. The practitioners arrested all have accounts with Qingxin Forum. The forum web server was hacked with a Trojan on June 27, 2007. Hackers with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) remotely logged into the server as administrator. The server administrator found out on July 15 that the trial version of UltraSurf had been replaced. Trial versions of Freegate and GPass were also found to have been replaced later. A Tojan virus was included in the replacement files, which increased in size by about 40 KB. When installed, the Trojan will monitor keyboard and computer operations. The following report on the Minghui website has more details: http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/7/23/182563.html. Qingxin Forum has been temporarily closed.
Since the CCP remotely logged into the server as administrator, any files on the server could have been modified. Those who have visited the forum website since June 27, especially those who downloaded any software, are at risk of Trojan infection. If you were not using administrator privilege on your computer when visiting the forum, the Trojan couldn't executed on your computer, and you shouldn't have been affected.
Falun Dafa practitioners in Mainland China are advised to use non-administrator privilege when using your computers. Anti-virus software can only protect you from known viruses. Non-administrator credentials will stop the execution of malicious code. However, some malicious code or viruses can automatically upgrade your privilege to administrator. Security loopholes in some operating systems and applications could also be taken advantage of by malicious code to execute under non-administrator privilege and take control of your computer. It is imperative to install all security patches for your operating system and applications.
Falun Dafa practitioners cultivate righteous enlightenment of unselfishness and putting others first. We should take safety measures with rationality and eliminate security risks. This is to ensure our own safety as well as others' and to better clarify the facts of Falun Gong and save sentient beings. All practitioners who have recently visited Qingxin Forum, especially those working for truth-clarification material distribution centers, please immediately take safety measures by following these steps:
1. Reformat hard drive and reinstall the safe version of anti-blockage software.
2. Besides changing all passwords, phone numbers, and other contact information, practitioners who have visited Qingxin Forum should safely and rationally inform other practitioners in touch to change their passwords and phone numbers.
3. Use a dedicated computer to make truth-clarification materials and access the Internet. It should be a different one from the computer used to access forums, QQ, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, MSN messenger, and other such sites.
4. Please refer to the following two articles on the Minghui website to set up security settings on every single computer.
Computer Security Case Study and Recommendations (Part 1)
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/7/18/182297.html
Computer Security Case Study and Recommendations (Part 2)
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/7/19/182298.html
5. Calm down, intensively study the Fa, send forth righteous thoughts, make mental adjustments, and find where we fall short.
6. Send forth strong righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil with determination.
July 24, 2008
