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Cybercrime:
Google vs. China
By Anthony Cave
Like a heavy-weight fight, Google and China have been battling since January over hacking and censorship issues that have escalated into a cybercrime conflict.
On January 12, Google was the victim of a serious cybercrime attack that originated from China, according to a post on the official Google blog by David Drummond, chief legal officer of Google. The attack was linked to the hacking of the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists and also affected other major U.S. corporations, such as Adobe.
Once hackers tap into a system, they can access massive amounts of information, especially within Google. Experts say that these Chinese hackers could have been phishing for new technology and stealing pass codes, including those from Google’s Gaia password system program.
Two months later, two universities in China – Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang Vocational School – have been traced as the source of the hack, according to a New York Times article. Google’s initial response was to pull out of China but, as Drummond mentioned in his blog post, Google wanted to work with the Chinese government to maintain an uncensored search engine within Chinese law.
This proved unsuccessful, so Google closed their Google.cn domain in March and decided to redirect all searches to their Hong Kong-based domain, Google.com.hk. Google didn’t want to abandon China completely, as it is one of the Internet’s largest markets, according to the Associated Press. Instead, Google opted to run the Chinese search queries through the uncensored Hong Kong servers. The New York Times later reported that Chinese officials were upset with the redirected domain, as it shed light on China’s censorship policies.
Once hackers tap into a system, they can access massive amounts of information, especially within Google.
Google launched Google.cn in January 2006 but had to comply with China’s Golden Shield Project, a censorship program within the Chinese government which limits access of the Internet in the entire country. Other technology giants have complied with these laws, including Microsoft, as it runs the popular Bing! search engine in China. Yahoo and MySpace have also followed this trend, reported London’s The Guardian.
Some in the industry hope that Google redirecting the Chinese searches to the Hong Kong domain will be a small step toward freedom of expression in China. China’s firewall is already bypassed using American servers such as Spygate, according to a New York Times Upfront article.
The question of who exactly hacked Google’s web interface is a difficult one to answer. China uses a different computer exploit system than the U.S., so pinpointing the actual hacker is a task in itself. Part of the hack was a scripted code on Internet Explorer 6, which about 10 percent of the world’s population still uses. After the cyber attack, Microsoft urged users to upgrade to a newer version of Internet Explorer, as “IE6” was deemed vulnerable.
One of Google’s primary slogans is “Do no evil,” which is supposed to symbolize their value to the consumer over other companies. Since the reported Google hack, the U.S. government has gotten involved in talks with the Chinese government as well. This is a universal rights issue, according to President Barack Obama in a Reuters report—not just a corporate concern.
Google’s bold statement has managed to increase their stock value in China by more than 35 percent. Still, risks are involved in the continued operation of Google in China. The official blog post also stated that Google may have to shut down their Chinese offices if they are not allowed to operate in the country. The possibility of leaving a trillion-dollar market could be a substantial loss to Google.
The trust between Google and China has been severed by the hack, as the battle between the two continues. The short term and long term effects of this situation are still uncertain, but the consequences have mainly been in Google’s favor. Now, Google seems to be rattling some cages through “cold” cyber warfare with China’s communist party.
For previous OUTLOUD coverage of the Internet in China, read
Internet in China Censored and Policed
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