Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




CYBER WARS
Angry China rejects blame for Gmail attack
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) June 2, 2011


China said Thursday it was "unacceptable" to blame it for a cyberspying campaign which Google said had targeted the Gmail accounts of senior US officials, journalists and Chinese activists.

The comments marked the latest salvo in a battle between the Chinese government and Google dating back to last year when the US Internet giant revealed it had been the victim of a separate China-based cyberattack.

"To put all of the blame on China is unacceptable," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

"The so-called statement that the Chinese government supports hacking attacks is a total fabrication... It has ulterior motives."

Google said Wednesday it was hit by a cyberspying campaign that appeared to have originated in Jinan, capital of the eastern Chinese province of Shandong.

The company did not specifically point the finger of blame at Chinese authorities.

"We recently uncovered a campaign to collect user passwords, likely through phishing," Google security team engineering director Eric Grosse said in a blog post.

"The goal of this effort seems to have been to monitor the contents of these users' emails, with the perpetrators apparently using stolen passwords to change peoples' forwarding and delegation settings," he said.

Those affected included senior US government officials, Chinese political activists, military personnel, journalists and officials in several Asian countries, mainly South Korea, Grosse said.

"Google detected and has disrupted this campaign to take users' passwords and monitor their emails," he said.

"We have notified victims and secured their accounts," he added. "In addition, we have notified relevant government authorities."

The "phishing" ruse used to trick Gmail users into revealing account names and passwords reportedly involved sending booby-trapped messages that appeared to come from legitimate associates, friends or organisations.

The White House is investigating the situation but has no reason to believe that Gmail accounts of senior government officials were hacked, an official told AFP.

Briefing reporters on a new White House strategy statement about cyber-security, the Pentagon Tuesday did not rule out a military response if the United States was hit by an online attack.

"A response to a cyber-incident or attack on the US would not necessarily be a cyber response," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan said.

Google said the California-based firm's systems and servers were not attacked.

There was no indication whether the Gmail spying campaign was related to the China-based cyberattack on Google that prompted the company early last year to stop bowing to Internet censors and reduce its presence in the country.

Google, whose motto is "Don't Be Evil", had initially threatened to close its Chinese operations altogether because of censorship and cyberattacks it said originated from China.

At that time, Beijing virulently denied any state involvement in the cyberattacks that Google said targeted email accounts of Chinese human rights activists, saying such claims were "groundless".

Beijing tightly controls online content in a vast system dubbed the "Great Firewall of China", removing information it deems harmful such as pornography and violent content, but also politically sensitive material.

Noting that China too had been a victim of cyberattacks, Hong said: "The Chinese government always disapproves of criminal activities including hacker activities and other activities that impair the Internet."

The spokesman added: "We punish these activities in accordance with law."

.


Related Links
Cyberwar - Internet Security News - Systems and Policy Issues






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








CYBER WARS
Pentagon: All options on table in cyber-attack
Washington (AFP) May 31, 2011
The Pentagon said Tuesday that it would consider all options if the United States were hit by a cyber-attack as it develops the first military guidelines for the age of Internet warfare. President Barack Obama's administration has been formalizing rules on cyberspace amid growing concern about the reach of hackers. Defense contractor Lockheed Martin said it repelled a major cyber-assault a w ... read more


CYBER WARS
Looking at the volatile side of the Moon

Parts of moon interior as wet as Earth's upper mantle

NASA-Funded Scientists Make Watershed Lunar Discovery

Moon may have more water than believed: study

CYBER WARS
Materials for Mars

Camera Duo on Mars Rover Mast Will Shoot Color Views

NC State Students Look To Support Manned Mission To Mars

Opportunity Spies Outcrop Ahead

CYBER WARS
Astronauts and Students Connect at UA Lunar and Planetary Lab

Keeping the power on in space

NASA and Hawaii Partner for Space Exploration

NASA is Making Hot, Way Cool

CYBER WARS
China's Fengyun-3B satellite goes into official operation

Venezuela, China to launch satellite next year

Top Chinese scientists honored with naming of minor planets

China sees smooth preparation for launch of unmanned module

CYBER WARS
Thales delivers First Cygnus PCM to Orbital

On-Orbit Orion MPCV Navigation System Tested During STS-134 Shuttle Mission

Final Endeavour spacewalk marks 1,000 hours of station EVAs

Fourth and Final Shuttle Astronaut Spacewalk Set

CYBER WARS
Boeing Opens Exploration Launch Systems Office in Florida

Payload processing underway for ASTRA 1N

Cosmica Spacelines And XCOR Aerospace Tout Suborbital Payload Flight Opportunties

Should India Go Suborbital

CYBER WARS
Second Rocky World Makes Kepler-10 a Multi-Planet System

Kepler's Astounding Haul of Multiple-Planet Systems Just Keeps Growing

Bennett team discovers new class of extrasolar planets

Climate scientists reveal new candidate for first habitable exoplanet

CYBER WARS
Researchers develop environmentally friendly plastics

Google given more time to reach book settlement

A flexible virtual system makes any reality possible

iPad challenge looms large at Asia IT show




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement