Posted 01.26.2010 at 6:46 pm
10 Comments
Woops...My Bad?
via Tampabay.com
Over the last two weeks, China and the US have engaged in a round of diplomatic sparring over attacks against Google. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded that China investigate the attacks, while China accused the US of having a hacking double standard, and of using the Internet to foment revolution in Iran. In the ensuing back and forth, Google pulled its operations out of China, and criticized the Chinese government for censoring search results.
But what if China wasn't behind the attacks at all?
Sure, the attacks were launched from Taiwanese servers, a hallmark of Chinese cyberwarfare. And yes, the Google infiltration included, among many other things, the theft of emails from Chinese dissidents.
However, the virus used to perpetrate the attack originated from outside of China, contradicting earlier claims that the hacking software first appeared in a Chinese-language only journal. And any links between the Taiwanese servers and the Chinese mainland are circumstantial at best.
Of course, none of this absolves China either. China may very well have instigated the Google attack, it's just very hard to say one way or the other based on the evidence that has been released to the public thus far. Rather, the inability to easily track the origin of these attacks highlights the danger of cyberwar, where ambiguous virtual actions can lead to concrete real-world consequences.
10 Comments
To comment, please Login.
Popular Tags
Technology
|
|
|
|
|
|
June 2013: American Energy Independence
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.
Popular on Popsci
Most Commented
Technology
- Defense Distributed's Cody Wilson On Being Told To Remove 3-D Printed Gun Plans: "We Win"
- This Newer, Stronger 3-D Printed Gun Costs Just $25
- Thieves Stole $45 Million From ATMs Because The U.S. Uses Absurd 40-Year-Old Technology
- Autonomous X-47B Jet Fighter Makes Historic First Launch From An Aircraft Carrier
- 2013 Invention Awards: Family Flier
- Russia Is Building Robots To 'Neutralize' Terrorists
- Time-Lapse GIFs Show Earth Transforming Over 25 Years
- How To Turn An AK-47 Into A Soup Ladle
- America's Road To Energy Independence, Part 1
- Mapping The Simpsons' Slow Descent Into Suckitude
Most Emailed
Technology
- Social Media Replaces Police Missing Persons Searches In France
- New Water-Repellant Fabric Is Like A Second Skin
- U.S. Army Creates Shoebox-Size Universal Battery Charger
- Who Wouldn't Want To Stay In This Totally Insane Space Hotel!?
- Big Pic: Eruption Of Alaska's Pavlof Volcano, As Seen From The International Space Station
- Obama Set To Reboot Drone Strike Policy And Retool The War On Terror
- The World’s Largest Lego Model Is A Life-Size X-Wing [Video]
- Why Don't We Have More Drones Monitoring Wildfires?
- Navy Completes First Flight Of Game-Changing MQ-4C Triton Spy Drone [Video]
- Should Photojournalists Be Permitted To Manipulate Photos?
Most Viewed
Technology
- Social Media Replaces Police Missing Persons Searches In France
- New Water-Repellant Fabric Is Like A Second Skin
- U.S. Army Creates Shoebox-Size Universal Battery Charger
- Who Wouldn't Want To Stay In This Totally Insane Space Hotel!?
- Big Pic: Eruption Of Alaska's Pavlof Volcano, As Seen From The International Space Station
- Obama Set To Reboot Drone Strike Policy And Retool The War On Terror
- The World’s Largest Lego Model Is A Life-Size X-Wing [Video]
- Why Don't We Have More Drones Monitoring Wildfires?
- Navy Completes First Flight Of Game-Changing MQ-4C Triton Spy Drone [Video]
- Should Photojournalists Be Permitted To Manipulate Photos?
Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor: Rose Pastore | Email
Contributing Writers:
Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2012 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
To China:
US internet policies in Iran are not in question here China!
You're standing in the way of Google's world domination.
@Meshca china wants the evil bing to take over
Off topic -- is Hillary burping? Sorry, I just couldn't resist.
Anytime you reference Dan Goodin from The Register tells your readers that the article has no foundation in fact.
Everybody is free to hack my bank account :)
Let me get this straight... You state the attack originated in Taiwan. But the virus may have been developed in another country. And this calls into question Chinas roll in the attacks. So... if Canada bombs say Mexico, but uses weapons bought from the US then, would that to call into question Canadas roll in those, albeit hypothetical, attacks? I'm gonna say no. Your journalism skills need serious work buddy.
This isnt looking good guys. I'm not a crazy guy living in a bunker or anything, but this kind of political bickering and small stuff can start wars. The U.S. is in a recession and China has just exploded as a world power. I think we need to be careful with our pointer finger.
lnwolf41 You never do the crime yourself you hire othere people to do the dirty work and point to someone eles. If China did it and I'm not saying they didn't do it, think of all the money they would lose,if they started a war, remember Walmart buys all their stuff from china, not to mention all major power tools are produced in china that we buy.
I'm not as concerned over Google's absence in China as I am over the fact that China holds the majority of American assets in addition to being our largest creditor. Being a private corporation, Google is free to make it's own decisions but they may want to consider (if they have them) who holds their international shares.
I blame the repugnantcans for cozying up to China and then borrowing trillions from them. What did they expect would happen? Little by little they will just start treating us like we were some back water of their own country. The repugnantcans gave them the ability to push their weight around. We should tighten our belts, pay them off , and be free of the hold they have on us. The products they make are untrustworthy and often dangerous. They lie and are not honest to each other, what can you expect from them? Google was just being greedy when they went in there in the first place. China only let them in so they could have a conduit to all our private information which they have actively been exploring how to obtain. Someone is surprised by all this?
-------
Regards
Kevin Whalen,
Email Website www.emailextractor.com