Google Confronts China's Three Warfares
Abstract
In early January 2010, Google announced that a computer attack originating from China had penetrated its corporate infrastructure (in mid- December) and stolen information from its computers, most likely source code. The hackers also accessed the Gmail accounts of some human-rights activists and infiltrated the networks of 33 companies. In April 2010, journalist John Markoff wrote: A person with direct knowledge of the investigation now says that the losses included one of Google?s crown jewels, a password system that controls access by millions of users worldwide to almost all of the company's Web services, including e-mail and business applications. The program, code named Gaia for the Greek goddess of the earth, was attacked in a lightning raid taking less than two days last December, the person said. China's recent incursions into US military computer networks and Google's cyber systems are of concern when viewed in isolation. They reflect a more serious problem when viewed as part of a short-term goal of conducting "preemptive reconnaissance" that accommodates a longer-term goal of affecting US military planning or the US economy. Many factors indicate that this may be China's goal. Initially, this article examines the context within which the Google attacks occurred and how Google's response--abandoning censorship in China--was used by the Chinese to distract attention from their planned aggression. It then analyzes how a 2003 military regulation assisted China's response to Google's accusations. In short, these procedures are being used all too often by the Chinese and are causing US authorities to be more and more intolerant of Chinese behavior.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA528986
Entities
People
- Timothy L. Thomas
Organizations
- United States Army War College