 Telegram traces cyber-attack during HK protests to China Beijing (AFP) June 13, 2019 - Encrypted messaging service Telegram suffered a major cyber-attack that originated from China, the company's CEO said Thursday, linking it to the ongoing political unrest in Hong Kong. Many protesters in the city have used Telegram to evade electronic surveillance and coordinate their demonstrations against a controversial Beijing-backed plan that would allow extraditions from the semi-autonomous territory to the mainland. Demonstrations descended into violence Wednesday as police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who tried to storm the city's parliament -- the worst political crisis Hong Kong has seen since its 1997 handover from Britain to China. Telegram announced Wednesday that it was suffering a "powerful" Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, which involves a hacker overwhelming a target's servers by making a massive number of junk requests. It warned that users in many regions may face connection issues. Pavel Durov, Telegram's CEO, said the junk requests came mostly from China. "Historically, all state actor-sized DDoS (200-400 Gb/s of junk) we experienced coincided in time with protests in Hong Kong (coordinated on @telegram)," he tweeted. "This case was not an exception." Telegram later announced on Twitter that its service had stabilised. It also posted a series of tweets explaining the nature of the attack. "Imagine that an army of lemmings just jumped the queue at McDonald's in front of you -- and each is ordering a whopper," it said, referring to the flagship product of Burger King. "The server is busy telling the whopper lemmings they came to the wrong place -- but there are so many of them that the server can't even see you to try and take your order." - Evading surveillance - When asked about Durov's claim the attack originated from China, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said he was not aware of the incident. "What I can tell you here is that China has always opposed any form of cyber-attacks. China is also a victim of cyber-attacks," Geng said at a regular press briefing in Beijing. China's cyberspace administration did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment. Telegram was launched in 2013, and allows users to exchange encrypted text messages, photos and videos, and also create "channels" for as many as 200,000 people. It also supports encrypted voice calls. The firm announced last year that it had crossed 200 million monthly active users. Encrypted messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp are preferred around the world by a wide variety of people trying to avoid surveillance by authorities -- from Islamic State jihadists and drug dealers to human rights activists and journalists. Governments in recent years have devoted significant resources to try and breach or bypass the security features of these apps, according to tech firms and researchers. Some states have outright banned them. Hong Kong is not behind China's Great Firewall, which heavily restricts internet access in the mainland -- where Telegram is blocked. The city's special status under its handover agreement allows freedoms unseen in mainland China, but many fear they are under threat as Beijing exerts increasing influence on Hong Kong. The current protests were sparked by fears the proposed law would allow extraditions to China and leave people exposed to the mainland's politicised and opaque justice system.
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Hong Kong's tech-savvy protesters are going digitally dark as they try to avoid surveillance and potential future prosecutions, disabling location tracking on their phones, buying train tickets with cash and purging their social media conversations.
Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to break up crowds opposed to a China extradition law on Wednesday, in the worst unrest the city has witnessed in decades.
Many of those on the streets are predominantly young and have grown up in a digital world, but they are all too aware of the dangers of surveillance and leaving online footprints.
Ben, a masked office worker at the protests, said he feared the extradition law would have a devastating impact on freedoms.
"Even if we're not doing anything drastic -- as simple as saying something online about China -- because of such surveillance they might catch us," the 25-year-old said.
This week groups of demonstrators donned masks, goggles, helmets and caps -- both to protect themselves against tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets, and also to make it harder for them to be identified.
Many said they turned off their location tracking on their phones and beefed up their digital privacy settings before joining protests, or deleted conversations and photos on social media and messaging apps after they left the demonstrations.
There were unusually long lines at ticket machines in the city underground metro stations as protesters used cash to buy tickets rather than tap-in with the city's ubiquitous Octopus cards -- whose movements can be more easily tracked.
In a city where WhatsApp is usually king, protesters have embraced the encrypted messaging app Telegram in recent days, believing it offers better cyber protection and also because it allows larger groups to co-ordinate.
On Thursday Telegram announced it had been the target of a major cyber attack, with most junk requests coming from China. The company's CEO linked the attack to the city's ongoing political unrest.
Anxieties have been symbolised in a profile picture that was being used by many opponents of the bill: a wilting depiction of Hong Kong's black-and-white bauhinia flower.
But protesters have become increasingly nervous that using the picture online could attract attention from authorities, and have taken it down.
"This reflects the terror Hong Kong citizens feel towards this government," said a woman surnamed Yau, 29, who works in education.
A protester surnamed Heung told AFP that many people immediately deleted "evidence showing you were present".
The demonstrators who spoke with AFP only provided their first or last names due to the subject's sensitivity, and all wore at least masks.
Heung, 27, had returned to the area where the protests had taken place to join the clean-up, and she put a post on Facebook calling for helpers. But she was afraid even a call for volunteers would link her to the protests.
"Maybe I'll delete the post tonight," she said. "I don't want to become one of their suspects."
- 'It would become like Xinjiang' -
While Hong Kongers have free speech and do not encounter the surveillance saturation on the mainland, sliding freedoms and a resurgent Beijing is fuelling anxieties and fears.
Recent prosecutions of protest leaders have also used video and digital data to help win convictions.
Bruce Lui, a senior journalism lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University, said awareness around security has increased, particularly with China's "all-pervasive" surveillance technology and wide use of facial recognition and other tracking methods.
"In recent years national security has become an urgent issue for Hong Kong relating to China. Hong Kong laws may have limitations, but China only needs to use national security to surpass (them)," he said.
The city was rattled in recent years by the disappearance of several booksellers who resurfaced in China facing charges -- and the alleged rendition of billionaire businessman Xiao Jianhua in 2017.
Critics say the extradition law, if passed, would allow these cases to be carried out openly and legally.
"One month ago, things were still calm in Hong Kong," said Ben, the office worker.
"But in an instant, it has become this. Who knows if it would become like Xinjiang the day after tomorrow, because things can change so quickly," he added, referring to an autonomous region tightly ruled by Beijing.
In precarious times, many are holding onto core values.
"We're trying to do better with our privacy settings. But we still consider ourselves Hong Kong people, not Chinese, so we still think we have a right to speak out," said Yau.
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