[antiRepublicrat]

How about a 17 year old kid from Lithuania?

Possible. Not only is China a great source of attacks, it's also a great source of open proxies for others around the world to use for attacks.

[indthkr]

How about a 17 year old kid from Lithuania?

Possible. Not only is China a great source of attacks, it's also a great source of open proxies for others around the world to use for attacks.

While a lot of the attacks trace back to Chinese servers, what are the chances that the majority of the attacks are sponsored outside the country?

There was an article (in the Washington Compost, I think) a number of months ago discussing how the Chinese hacker industry is just another underground business that has popped-up in China. The government just looks the other way as long as it doesn't interfere with the Will of the State..... of course if it helps the state, that's OK too ;-)

A number of these attacks may be the work of organized crime, whose origins could likely include the U.S. as well. When it comes to the Chinese, $$$ seems to be more important than ideology.