davidbau.com

Flawed Security

As awareness of the seriousness of the Chinese intrusion into Google expands, I would like to highlight what the Chinese "People's Daily" is saying about Google today:

As the world's most famous search engine company, supposedly its defense capabilities should also be very strong. If the defense system is really flawed, it is necessary to strengthen preventive measures, while passive withdrawal only shows incompetence, but also contributes to the arrogance of hackers, which is very inconsistent with Google's prominent identity.

Think about that for a moment.

Google caught the electronic equivalent of a Chinese drone attack, using sophisticated weapons and circumnavigating layers of defenses. Imagine if the Chinese People's daily had issued a similar statement about the lack of antiaircraft missiles atop the World Trade Center or lax security of United Airlines.

The Google attack was not merely a picked lock.

As some details come out, it is clear that the attacker must have had access to many resources: the ability to make a custom virus on a previously unknown bug in IE; a familiarity with the architecture of Google's highly protected internal systems; and the knowledge of Chinese dissident private email addresses. An expert has called the attack on gmail "incredibly sophisticated, the kind only seen in the government and defense industrial sector."

What seems increasingly flawed is the premise that it is possible to operate an honest business under the thumb of Chinese authorities.

Posted by David at January 14, 2010 09:15 AM