Chinese hacking Gmail: Google
Suspected Chinese hackers tried to steal the passwords of hundreds of Google email account holders, including those of senior US government officials, Chinese activists and journalists, the Internet company said.
The claim by the world’s largest Web search engine sparked an angry response from Beijing, which said blaming China was “unacceptable”, pointing to further tensions in an already strained relationship with Google. The perpetrators appeared to originate from Jinan, capital of China’s eastern Shandong province, Google said. Jinan is home to one of six technical reconnaissance bureaus belonging to the People’s Liberation Army and a technical college US investigators have linked to a previous attack on Google.
Washington said it was investigating Google’s claims while the FBI said it was working with Google following the attacks — the latest computer-based invasions directed at multinational companies that have raised global alarm about Internet security.
Andrew Davies of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, an independent security and defence think tank, said governments needed to pay more attention to hacking no matter where it originated from. “I think there has been a certain lack of appreciation of the looming threat around the world,” Mr Davies said.
“We’ve been in catch-up mode for the last couple of years and it’s been hard to wake up Western governments to the magnitude of the threat.” The hackers recently tried to crack and monitor email accounts by stealing passwords, but Google detected and “disrupted” their campaign, it said on its official blog. Google said it had notified the victims.
Google did not say the Chinese government was behind the attacks or say what might have motivated them. The revelation comes over a year after Google disclosed a cyberattack on its systems that it traced to China, and could further strain their relationship.
—Reuters
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