Google May Leave China Because of Cyberattacks (subject to Chicom hacking for stealing info)

WSJ ^ | 01/12/10 | JESSICA E. VASCELLARO

[TigerLikesRooster]

Google May Leave China Because of Cyberattacks

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO

Google Inc. said it is "reviewing the feasibility of our business operations in China" and may back out of China entirely, as it disclosed it had been hit with major cyberattacks it believes to have originated from the country.

Google disclosed its thinking in a blog post Tuesday. In the post, Google said it detected a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China" in mid-December and that the attack resulted in "the theft of intellectual property from Google."

The post said that Google believed the attackers were aiming to access the Gmail accounts of Chinese human-rights activists but that only two Gmail accounts appeared to have been accessed.

"These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered -- combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web -- have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China," read the post, authored by Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond.

[jessduntno]

Why don’t they just buy China?

[Yo-Yo]

Has Google fixed the “Islam is...” bug yet? NO.

[dumpthelibs]

BTW, why does it matter where they are? Hackers access you from anywhere. Am I missing something here?

[Yo-Yo]

Google has a special service inside "The Great Firewall of China" that provides only Party-approved search results. For example, if you were within China and Googled "tiananmen square," you would not see:

Apparently the "hackers" have access to Google servers, perhaps physical access (i.e. employees.)

[edcoil]

A friend of mine owns one of the worlds leading software security companies - he was asked my the ministries to open an office in China. He was told only two requirements, open office there with chinese staff and you must have the source code there.

He said no. The damage caused by China hacking is too much.

Can you imagine the scope of the attacks if they had the source code??? It would be horrific.

IBM tried to acquire me he said no, they acquired his biggest competitor and opened an office in china. I would bet they sent the source code there -—

[TigerLikesRooster]

Chicom = “Experienced” Big Brother.

[af_vet_rr]

BTW, why does it matter where they are? Hackers access you from anywhere. Am I missing something here?

If it were just typical botnet/phishing types of scams, it would be one thing - they deal with this constantly from every country.

If you read between the lines, Google is implying the Chinese government is probably behind the attacks, given the accounts that were targeted.

It's a big deal for them to do this publicly, and I expect they will pull out of China - they wouldn't announce something like this unless they had already started plans in motion. My guess is they are going to try and use it as leverage against the Chinese government at the last second, but they sound like they know that it's useless.

[Centurion2000]

Give it time and a lot of companies are going to be either nationalized or leave China.

[TigerLikesRooster]

a lot of companies are going to be either nationalized or leave China

I have been saying this for some time. Many will be forced to leave manufacturing/business infrastructure behind them, without being adequately compensated.

[Walkingfeather]

What do you want to bet Obama has put a call into Google execs trying to talk them out of that.

[gaijin]

There is a verrrry hazy seperation between the PRC and the hacker groups that are based there. The basic bargain the two sides that have been struck is:

1. You guys never get prosecuted here for stuff you do to outsiders
2. You have to do our bidding, all unofficially

Since the hackers are technically wearing uniforms, it’s all non-state action. So if the target is a fairly legalistic one (like the USA), then prosecution is difficult.

And since liberal administration tend to tread LOTS of enemy action as LEGAL problems, this gov/hacker arrangement virtually guarantees that the US will not be able to do anything.

The whole question of WHAT virtual stuff is an act of war is being mulled over with great intensity, because 2007 visited on the USA an “ELECTRONIC PEARL HARBOR” that no one wants to talk about —the take of these foreign hackers was apparently HUUUUUUUUUGE.

I really mean it was huge.

[gaijin]

There is a verrrry hazy seperation between the PRC and the hacker groups that are based there. The basic bargain the two sides that have been struck is:

1. You guys never get prosecuted here for stuff you do to outsiders
2. You have to do our bidding, all unofficially

Since the hackers are technically wearing uniforms, it’s all non-state action. So if the target is a fairly legalistic one (like the USA), then prosecution is difficult.

And since liberal administration tend to tread LOTS of enemy action as LEGAL problems, this gov/hacker arrangement virtually guarantees that the US will not be able to do anything.

The whole question of WHAT virtual stuff is an act of war is being mulled over with great intensity, because 2007 visited on the USA an “ELECTRONIC PEARL HARBOR” that no one wants to talk about —the take of these foreign hackers was apparently HUUUUUUUUUGE.

I really mean it was huge.

[gaijin]

technically wearing uniforms should read: technically NOT wearing uniforms.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Right. This is not something you can steer China away by ‘free trade.’ Not in time. They will develop lethal capability ‘before we can melt them down with free trade.’

[weeweed]

This story is BS, a PR stunt by Google. Hackers don’t have to steal what Google will give up willingly. They’ve been ratting out dissidents to the chicoms all along, probably american associates as well. Don’t kid yourself, Google only cares about money and power.