It appears that CNN has been and will be the target of choice for Chinese hackers to show their displeasure with Western media coverage over “pro-independence protests in Tibet.” It would seem that some people in China have been offended by this coverage and are calling form attacks according to the website The Dark Visitor. They have provided details on several Chinese websites calling for attacks on www.cnn.com starting at 8:00 PM Beijing Time (8:00 AM EDT or 12:00 PM GMT) today April 19, 2008. However, according to another update on The Dark Visitor’s website, these attacks have seen been called off and are to be rescheduled.

According to a recent update on the CNN website, they have already observed several attacks that occurred this past Thursday. They took action to limit access to the site from certain regions and users in Asia may have experienced minor disruptions. These attacks appear to be either coincidental or preemptive in nature as they came two days earlier than called for. Arbor Networks is also monitoring this situation and has reported they have observed at least 36 different attacks thus far.

While the attacks have been “called off” for now, it will be interesting to see if they continue regardless — as scheduled or at a later date. It appears that attacks are expected and are being planned for. We can hope that they are unsuccessful regardless of the level of participation. We will update more if we learn anything new.