Google kept quiet about the origin of the cyber attacks that compelled the search giant to rethink its operations in China. But VeriSign did some sleuthing, and thinks it knows who’s responsible. eSecurity Planet has the details.
When Google issued its stunning charge earlier this week that it had been subjected to cyber attacks by China, it did not spell out who or what institutions were responsible for the attack. However, security firm VeriSign says it has a good idea.
“Sources indicate that they believe the attack is the work of actors operating on behalf of or in the direct employ of official intelligence entities of the People’s Republic of China. Two independent, anonymous iDefense sources in the defense contracting and intelligence consulting community confirmed that both the source IPs and drop server of the attack correspond to a single foreign entity consisting either of agents of the Chinese state or proxies thereof,” VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) said in a release.
In the wake of the attacks, which Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) said included attempts to hack the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights advocates, the search giant said it plans to pull out of the Chinese market unless it can work out a way to offer uncensored search results in the country. The Chinese government insists that all Web companies abide by its censorship rules, which limit coverage of certain topics.
In Google’s blog post announcing its decision, the company said its investigation revealed that at least twenty other large companies, including those in Internet, finance, technology, media, and chemical sectors, were similarly targeted. VeriSign said it believes more than 30 firms were hit, including many high-tech firms based in Silicon Valley and it added defense contractors to the sectors named.