by Justin PauleyGoogle has once again become the target for hackers in China, this time seeking to monitor the email accounts of many high-profile US government officials. Google has been able to trace said attacks back to Jinan, China, which just so happens to be the location of a technical reconnaissance bureau for the People’s Liberation Army. This has led many to believe that perhaps the Chinese government has been sponsoring these attacks.
Google has publicly been bashing China in recent months for the continuing attacks in its vast network. They have been tracing attacks back to China every since 2009. They did however decline to state how they were able to trace the current attack specifically back to Jinan. Rather than physically hacking into Google owned computers and servers, the attackers have been tricking users into handing over login information, and thus gaining access to accounts. Google won’t release the names of the people who’s accounts were hacked, or even the number of accounts affected. They have however locked down any and all affected accounts and contacted their respective users.
The US government is concerned over the allegations being made by Google, particularly because the events involve US officials. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has agreed to investigate the attacks to aid in determining who exactly may have been behind it, and what may have been viewed or stolen. It appears as though the attackers were attempting to monitor the activity of foreign nationals. Why they may want to know such things has not yet been determined.
The current events add to the already long list of disputes between Google and China, which started as soon as the company began offering their search service to the Chinese people. Google, in order to be allowed to operate search services within China, had been forced to filter all search results being offered to the residents of mainland China. This, of course, drew criticism from the rest of the world, as citizens of other countries felt that Google should help pave the way for the right to freedom of speech within China. Critics of Google did however get their wish in 2010 when, in response to the 2009 attacks, Google removed all servers from mainland China and moved their offices to Hong Kong. At that time, Google also stopped filtering the search results being offered to the Chinese people. The Chinese government quickly revoked their operating license, thus preventing Google from offering search services within China. There has been much debate ever since whether Google should push to offer search services again within China, either filtered or unfiltered, or simply abandon the idea altogether.
The current situation is still under investigation, and will require more time before there are any definite answers. Until then, Google wishes to further educate the public on how such tricks are used to gather personal login information. Legitimate organizations, including Google, will never ask you to divulge login information. Such emails are known as “phishing” emails, and although they may appear to be real, they are not. Always remember to exercise caution when providing personal information over the internet.
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