A new approach to China. Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident--albeit a significant one--was something quite different. 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.
Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Anonymous wants to take down the Great Firewall of China. Last week, I wrote about how the hacktivist group Anonymous has a new Chinese branch, Anonymous China, which has been very active since it launched its Twitter account on March 30, 2012. The group has hacked and defaced hundreds of Chinese government, company, and other general websites to the point where China even acknowledged the attacks.
The hacking has continued against various websites, but even more importantly, the group has declared a new target: the so-called Great Firewall of China. Since my last two reports, Anonymous China has hacked shangzhi.gov.cn, publicly posting eight user names and passwords on Pastebay. This was soon followed by the hacking of szzfcg.gov.cn, which resulted in the site's full database being leaked and posted to Wikisend. Here are the corresponding tweets: Our new IRC channel: As I've already written before, the Anonymous China group has confirmed they are not Chinese and are not based in China. We are Anonymous. See also: Google and the Great Firewall: An Interesting New Twist - James Fallows. In a post that went up a few minutes ago on its official "Inside Search" blog, Google offers some fascinating tips on "improving our user experience" for people inside mainland China.
As a background reminder: after its showdown with the Chinese government two years ago, Google moved its Chinese search servers outside the mainland, to Hong Kong. People in Beijing, Shanghai, and elsewhere on the mainland can still use Google, but their queries must pass through "Great Firewall" filters on their way out to Hong Kong and then back in again.
One valuable part of this new post is a video that vividly conveys how it feels to run searches from inside the Great Firewall. As I argued years ago (and in these recent updates), the brilliance of the multi-layered screening systems that together make up the Firewall is that they are neither airtight nor fully predictable. That warning, shown in English above, would appear in whatever language the user had chosen for his or her Google settings. Google Confronts the Great Firewall - By Rebecca MacKinnon. For centuries, the Yangtze River -- the longest in Asia -- has played an important role in China's history, culture, and economy. The Yangtze is as quintessentially Chinese as the Nile is Egyptian or the Rhine is German. Many businesses use its name. But if you log on to the Internet anywhere in China, type the Chinese characters meaning "Yangtze River" into Google's Hong Kong-based search engine, and click "search," the browser screen will go blank with an error message: "This webpage is not available.
" (Here is a screenshot taken this morning by an Internet user in Beijing.) It's actually not an error. This ridiculous level of censorship is the work of China's national network-level censorship system, commonly known as the "Great Firewall. " It has been configured to block all Google searches containing words that could potentially be used in politically sensitive contexts. Google's relationship with China's censors has always been rocky. But will China care? Feng Li/Getty Images. Analysis: More than just Great Firewall awaits Facebook in China. U.S. Internet Providers and the 'Great Firewall of China'
Authors: Robert McMahon, Editor, and Isabella Bennett, Program Coordinator, International Institutions and Global Governance Updated: February 23, 2011 Introduction The operations of U.S. Internet companies in China are attracting concern in Congress after years of complaints from free speech and human rights advocates about these firms aiding Beijing's ability to censor content. Trade liberalization has sent China's economy booming, making it an attractive—even essential—market for U.S. companies to enter.
But China's government has retained tight political controls. What is the crux of the issue? Media watchdog groups accuse many major U.S. technology companies of assisting the Chinese censors. How does China control its Internet? Experts say the Chinese government deploys at least twelve agencies to enforce a wide array of Internet regulations directed at service and content providers. Do U.S. firms assist in this process? Is there any resistance from U.S. firms?