Attack on Google: Enemies from within?

SHANGHAI: Google has contacted the Chinese government about its plan to stop censoring results from its search engine, while sources said it is probing possible inside help on a cyber-attack against it.

Google will hold talks with the Chinese authorities 'in the coming days', it said in an e-mail statement yesterday.

The operator of the world's most popular search engine is meanwhile investigating whether one or more employees may have helped facilitate a cyber-attack that Google said it was a victim of in mid-December, two sources said yesterday.

Google said last week that it may pull out of the world's biggest Internet market by users after reporting it had been hit by a 'sophisticated' cyber-attack on its network that resulted in theft of its intellectual property. The sources said the attack, which targeted people who have access to specific parts of Google networks, may have been facilitated by people working in Google China's office.

A Google spokesman said: 'We're not commenting on rumour and speculation. This is an ongoing investigation, and we simply cannot comment on the details.'

Security analysts said the malicious software (malware) used was a modification of a trojan called Hydraq. Trojan-type malware, once inside a computer, allows someone unauthorised access.

Local media, citing unnamed sources, reported that some Google China staff were denied access to internal networks after Jan 13, while some were put on leave and others transferred to different offices in Google's Asia-Pacific operations.

Google said: 'We gave our employees a holiday the day of the announcement so that we could run tests and scans internally... Google China employees are now back at work and it's business as usual.' It also denied rumours that it has already decided to shut down its China offices.

China has tried to downplay Google's threat to leave, saying there are ways to resolve the issue, but insisting all foreign companies must abide by Chinese laws.

'The key swing factor is the negotiation between Google and the Chinese government,' Credit Suisse analysts Wallace Cheung and Sharon Jing wrote in a report yesterday. 'Next week will be crucial for resolution of the issue.'

Google's China operations may be 'officially terminated' next month, leading the government to frequently block the Google.com website, they wrote, without saying who gave them the information.

In a separate development, the Global Times reported yesterday that people in Shanghai caught sending 'dirty' short messages, photos or videos by cellphone could have their numbers cancelled as part of a crackdown on pornography.

An unidentified employee at the Shanghai subsidiary of China Mobile said the telco would search for keywords and forward offending messages to the police.

BLOOMBERG, REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Source: Straits Times, 19 Jan 2010.