San Francisco
– Evidence has emerged that purports to show that Chinese programmers were
behind the recent attacks on Google’s (NASD: GOOG) Gmail service that targeted Chinese human
rights activists, among others, The New York Times reported. Joe Stewart, a
malware specialist with Atlanta-based SecureWorks, told The Times he used
reverse engineering to determine that "the main program used in the attack
contained a module based on an unusual algorithm from a Chinese technical paper
that has been published exclusively on Chinese-language Web sites."
The
method behind the Google attack is believed to have been a Trojan horse called
Hydraq.
The cyber attack on Google has caused the company to reconsider its
very presence in China.
The company has since decided to stop censoring Internet search results for
Chinese users, and yesterday postponed the launch of two Android-powered mobile
phones in China
as it holds talks with the Chinese government about a way forward.
Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/technology/20cyber.html
http://snipurl.com/u4y11
(DMW previous coverage)
