It is being reported that WikiLeaks
latest release of 250,000 diplomatic cables confirms the suspicion that China
was responsible for the Aurora attacks on Google’s computer systems in January.
Both Google and the State
Department initially believed China was responsible for the attacks, but the New
York Times’ reports that the release of previously confidential diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks over the weekend makes those connections more explicit.
“China’s Politburo directed the
intrusion into Google’s computer systems in that country,” The New York
Times report goes on to say, “[The Chinese Government] have broken into American government computers and
those of Western allies… since 2002”
Threatpost reported
earlier this year that the attacks were aimed at gaining access to the Gmail
accounts of Chinese dissidents and human rights activists. Following the
attacks, Google demanded that its search engine be uncensored in mainland China.
China then claimed censorship was a non-negotiable legal requirement, and
Google temporarily ceased their operations in China, redirecting Chinese
traffic through Google’s uncensored Hong Kong site. However, Google has since given
in to China’s demands, ending the redirect, and allowing their search engine to
be censored in China.
The full report on recently
released diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks can be found on the New
York Times website.
