Major media as well as the Google blog are making public what apparently are Chinese government cyber attacks on Google and other American businesses. Google Blog says:
First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses--including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors--have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.
There's more below the fold:
Google adds:
Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.
Google also says that it discovered malware and phishing campaigns targeting China democracy activists.
The NYTimes notes:
A United States expert on cyber warfare said that 34 companies were targeted, most of them high-technology companies in Silicon Valley. The attacks came from Taiwanese Internet addresses, according to James Mulvenon, an expert on Chinese cyberwarfare capabilities.
This is the second time in a month that reports have surfaced of China making use of Taiwan this way, the previous instance being Taiwan firms used by China to ship nuke tech to Iran. A key component of China's campaign to annex Taiwan is to separate it from its western supporters. Using it as a base for anti-western activities promotes this goal by potentially inducing western ire at Taiwan -- in addition to the direct gains in information about China activists and technology stolen from Google.
Google is taking down its censorship wall at the moment, and may well pull out of China. I hope they stay and fight censorship with all their resources.
This is only the initial wave -- such attacks are only going to get worse. Time for our foreign policy elites to stop imagining they can create a stable future with the thugs in Beijing.
Vorkosigan