China syndromeChina directed Google hacking: leaked U.S. documents
Secret documents appearing on WikiLeaks include one in which the U.S. embassy in Beijing cited “a Chinese contact” who pointed to a Chinese government role in the hacking campaign into computers of Google and Western governments
The United States believes that Chinese authorities orchestrated a hacking campaign into computers of Google and Western governments, according to leaked documents cited Sunday by the New York Times.
The secret cables released by whistleblower site WikiLeaks included one in which the U.S. embassy in Beijing cited “a Chinese contact” who pointed to a government role in the hacking, the newspaper said.
“The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government,” the newspaper said, citing the cable.
Chinese operatives are also believed to have broken into computers of U.S. and Western allies along with those of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, it said.
AFP reports that Google announced in March that it would no longer follow the communist government’s instructions to filter searches for sensitive material after what it said were coordinated cyberattacks against the Internet company.
The hacking included infiltration of the Gmail accounts of Chinese dissidents.
Hacking campaigns originating from China have been reported before, including in a recent study by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (“China “hijacked” sensitive U.S. Internet traffic to Chinese servers,” 18 November 2010 HSNW).
U.S. officials have stopped short of publicly accusing Beijing of cyber warfare, saying that the hacking could be the work of Chinese not linked to authorities.
