Google recently faced a cyber attack that originated from China that was attempting to steal intellectual property from the company. The attack was also aimed at many other corporations that are involved in many business categories such as web-based companies, finance, technology, media, and finally chemical sectors. The main goal of the attack was to access Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
Google's investigation claims that the attackers did not get any information other than the date the accounts were created and the subject lines of certain emails - no actual email content was seen. The attacks were not limited to Chinese Gmail consumers - dozens of U.S. and European-based users were threatened, all of which were supporters of the human rights movement that has been cropping up in China. Google states that accounts that were accessed were done so through phishing or malware attacks on user's computers.
The interesting bit of detail in this story is that it wasn't a user or a group of users who were seeking this information - it was a government. This shows that the Chinese government does not respect intellectual property and is willing to commit crimes in order to silence those who oppose them. With this said, Google is reconsidering its stance with China in filtering web searching and content.
interesting article, I still haven't added Google's blog to my Google Reader account, I'll have to do that.
ReplyDeleteWell I don't think China doesn't respect intellectual property but they need to reform their strategies towards handling these kind of negative acts.
ReplyDeleteThe government censors and filters all web activity, only has state media, and is attempting to exploit the accounts of people who do not agree with these activities. I think these facts alone represent their lack of respect for intellectual property - be it personal of corporate.
ReplyDeleteHillary Clinton will arrive with a new policy to let overseas citizens surf the internet without any policing! any comments?
ReplyDeleteYahoo backed out of China and sold its stake in alibaba.com If you wana open a business u better contact these guys at alibaba.com
ReplyDeleteI have often wondered how the U.S can say China is a human rights violator and yet we spend billions of dollars every year with them. This just helps continue the human rights violations that occur everyday.
ReplyDeleteNice post Joseph. Ultimately China is a communist government so I don't see why this is a surprise. When the government monitors what it allows it citizens to access on the web and TV it cannot be assumed that they will have any morales surrounding individual (corporate or persons) privacy. Most of China's power comes from the money that we as consumer contribute to the country/government through trade deficits. If we quit buying their products the government would have little money/power to police it's people and corporations.
ReplyDeleteThings like this make me worry about future conflict with powerhouses like China. Correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the main reasons we were in conflict with the Soviet Union was because of their Communistic views. How long before we decide we are no longer willing to tolerate views like these? The only difference is that I think China has a much greater chance than the Soviets to beat the US in a conflict.
ReplyDeleteForgive me if I'm ignorant and don't know what I'm talking about, but this is what I thought of when I read this.
My understanding is that all governments have access to information if they want it even the U.S.
ReplyDeletePhone records, emails, and searches have been used for court cases and to find potential threats or just because they want it for other reasons.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the post but from what i've heard the government has wanted to control the internet since its beginning and there are groups that are trying to keep the internet free to all users.