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Article

China Left Fingerprints: NYT

IDG figures the hackers were after Google’s so-called internal intercept system
By Maureen O'Gara
Article Rating:
January 20, 2010 10:30 AM EST
Reads:
 648

Security Journal on Ulitzer

Atlanta-based SecureWorks malware expert Joe Stewart says the main program used to hack Google and 30 other major companies and open a back door in their systems traces back to an unusual algorithm for error-checking transmitted data that appeared in a Chinese-authored technical paper published exclusively on Chinese-language web sites, according to the New York Times.

The Trojan horse used has been dubbed Hydraq and is aimed at Windows-based computers.

The Times said Stewart "acknowledged that he could not completely rule out the possibility that the clue had been placed in the program intentionally by programmers from another government intent on framing the Chinese, but said that this was unlikely. ‘Occam's Razor suggests that the simplest explanation is probably the best one,' he said.

IDG figures the hackers were after Google's so-called internal intercept system used to help the company comply with search warrants by providing data on Google users.

The servers commandeered were the same ones China has used before and may have been using since last summer.

Published January 20, 2010 – Reads 648
Copyright © 2010 Ulitzer, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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More Stories By Maureen O'Gara

Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025.

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