Founder of China’s Largest “Ethical Hacking” Community Arrested
About 5,000 members are working on WooYun, which makes WooYun the biggest white hat community in China. It is the group of white hat hackers that helps companies find and discover new security flaws and also helps them strengthen safeguards. According to the news agency Caixinwang, the founder of WooYun ethical hacking group Fang Xiaodun was also arrested with 9 other white hat hackers. Ten senior members of the WooYun Ethical hacking group, including the owner Fang Xiaodun, were arrested by police without any notice . The source cited by Caixinwang said, “Everything happened very abruptly; even members within Wooyun were kept in the dark. Moreover, people from Wooyun said there were no administrative procedures nor prior notice for the arrest. The Day before WooYun’s official website was suspended, Fang Xiaodun stopped updating his WeChat account. On July 20, WooYun’s official website stated that the side is under maintenance and would return in “the shortest amount of time.” This all happened before the founder’s arrest. According to the sources, the site was not suspended by authorities or any external parties. However, it’s being said that WooYun official website has been taken down by the members themselves to reduce the risk. However, the reason for the arrest is still under mystery. Some consider that WooYun has got into trouble for discovering the flaws in some websites. In contrast, others speculate that members used to test security flaws of government networks without any authorization. Fang Xiaodun was also scheduled to give a speech at a security conference in early August which was also canceled following his arrest.
