The Rise Of Chinese Cyber Warriors: Towards A Theoretical Model Of Online Hacktivism

China is frequently reported as the source of many transnational cyber-attacks. Yet, there have been very few studies on the people behind such attacks. In this paper, we have studied some of the reasons behind the rise of a specific form of hacking: hacktivism emanating from China. Using various criminological theories, as well as political and sociological approaches, a novel theoretical framework behind Chinese hacktivism is proposed in this paper. This is supported by an empirical analysis that was carried out on the membership growth patterns of online Chinese hacktivist forums and the observed patterns are used to support the proposed framework.