U.S. enables Chinese hacking of Google. Google users in Hong Kong hold a banner saying, "Say no to Internet censorship: Google, well done! " Google says hackers from China got into its Gmail systemBruce Schneier says hackers exploited feature put into system at behest of U.S. governmentWhen governments get access to private communications, they invite abuse, he saysGovernment surveillance and control of Internet are flourishing, he says Editor's note: Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and author of "Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World. " Read more of his writing at (CNN) -- Google made headlines when it went public with the fact that Chinese hackers had penetrated some of its services, such as Gmail, in a politically motivated attempt at intelligence gathering. In order to comply with government search warrants on user data, Google created a backdoor access system into Gmail accounts.
Google's system isn't unique. Video: China-Google battle heats up. Google China. Google attack puts spotlight on China's red hackers. 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.
Google password system was target of Chinese hackers | Technology. Google's internal system which lets people access its services via a single password was the target of the Chinese hacking attack last December that led the company to withdraw from the mainland, according to the New York Times. The system, known internally as "Gaia" – after the overarching planetary consciousness posited by James Lovelock – is behind the interface which lets not just users but also Google developers to log in and gain access to the company's resources.
Millions of people use that interface to access documents and email from anywhere in the world using Google's "cloud" services. However, users' passwords have not been compromised: Google is understood to follow standard security practice, by which passwords are only stored in encrypted form known as a "hash". When a user logs in, the password they supply is encrypted using the same method and compared to the hash. If the two match, access is allowed. Reversing the process is computationally unfeasible. Google Threatening To Leave China Over Hacking, Email Leak. UPDATE 4:31 PM ET: Get latest updates on Google's China developments on our liveblog here. SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. will stop censoring its search results in China and may pull out of the country after discovering that computers hackers had tricked human rights activists into opening their e-mail accounts to outsiders.
The change-of-heart announced Tuesday heralds a major shift for Google, which has repeatedly said it will obey Chinese laws that require some politically and socially sensitive issues to be blocked from search results that are available in other countries Google disclosed in a blog post that it had detected a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China. " Further investigation revealed that "a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists," Google said in the post written by Chief Legal Officer David Drummond.
Google did not specifically accuse the Chinese government. Yahoo Drawn Into Google's Cyber War With China. Yahoo (YHOO) was drawn into the growing international cyber-war between Google (GOOG) and the Chinese government Saturday after it declared its support of the U.S. -based search giant. Google threatened to pull out of China after it became the victim of a massive cyber attack that is believed to be masterminded by the Chinese government. Now several other U.S. companies are also believed to have been victims of a similar attack, including Yahoo.Yahoo said it is "aligned with Google" in its rebuke of Chinese censorship, and condemned "any attempts to infiltrate company networks to obtain user information. " By supporting Google, Yahoo has drawn the ire of Alibaba (ALBCF), the Chinese internet company in which it owns a 40% minority stake.
"Alibaba Group has communicated to Yahoo! Other U.S. On Tuesday, Google revealed it had been the victim of the massive attack targeting Chinese rights activists' Gmail accounts. Meanwhile, U.S. Yahoo's Rocky Road in China. Advocacy Group Calls for Investigation of Google's 'Secret' NSA Relationships. A consumer-advocacy group is urging Congress to investigate what it calls a suspiciously "cozy" relationship between Google and the Obama administration. In a letter (PDF) sent to Representative Darrell Issa, Consumer Watchdog asked the Republican to hold a congressional investigation into contracts that governmental agencies have signed with Google, as well as the NSA's "secretive" relationship with the company.
The group went on to claim that the government took "insufficient" action after Google admitted to inadvertently collecting personal data from Wi-Fi networks with its Street View cars -- an incident that Consumer Watchdog called "the largest wire tapping scandal in world history. " "We believe Google has inappropriately benefited from close ties to the administration," the letter reads. "Google is most consumers' gateway to the Internet. Nonetheless, it should not get special treatment and access because of a special relationship with the administration.
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