U.S. internet giant Google Inc. might close its operations in China next month after a row over a hacking attack that apparently originated in China, a state media report said on Friday.
The Shanghai-based China Business News quoted an executive with an unidentified advertising agency linked to Google as saying the US firm had decided to “pull out” of China from April 10.
The newspaper also quoted an unnamed China-based Google employee as saying the company might announce its decision on Monday.
The report did not say if any withdrawal would involve only the closure of Google’s main Chinese website or include the ending of other operations in China.
Last week, the Chinese government warned Google that it would have to “bear the consequence” if it went ahead with a threat to stop censoring search results in China, which has strict government controls on the internet.
It was not clear if the two sides had held talks since Google announced plans in January to review its operations in China.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt as saying last week that the company was in “active negotiations” with the Chinese government, but Chinese officials declined to confirm that any talks had taken place.
Google’s Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, announced in January that the company planned to stop self-censoring its Chinese search engine even if that meant abandoning China’s market.
Showing posts with label hacking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hacking. Show all posts
Friday, March 19, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Google claim on hacking groundless, says China
China has denied claims by Google that a spate of hacking attacks that targeted the company originated from two Chinese universities.
In January, the Internet giant said it had faced cyber-attacks targeting the E-mail accounts of several Chinese human rights activists. Google has since announced it would stop censoring its search-engine in China, and possibly close down its China operations.
Universities
American investigators have reportedly traced the attacks to two Chinese universities — the well-reputed Shanghai Jiaotong University, known for its computer science programme, and the little-known Lanxiang vocational college.
In its first official response to Google's claims, the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said the allegations were unfounded.
“Reports that these attacks came from Chinese schools are totally groundless and the accusation of Chinese government involvement is also irresponsible and driven by ulterior motives,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang.
“According to law”
He added: “China administers its internet according to law, and this position will not change. China prohibits hacking and will crack down on hacking according to law.”
The Chinese government restricts access to politically-sensitive websites, and foreign companies registered here are required to follow China's censorship policies. China has the world's biggest and fastest-growing internet market, with more than 380 million Internet users.
The New York Times had reported on Thursday that the cyber-attacks had been traced to two Chinese universities and specifically to a computer science class taught by a Ukrainian professor at Lanxiang in northern Shandong province.
Both universities have strongly denied any involvement. Li Zixiang, Lanxiang's head, said the school was a vocational school that taught “cooking, auto repair and hairdressing”. Lanxiang had no Ukrainian teacher, he said.
In January, the Internet giant said it had faced cyber-attacks targeting the E-mail accounts of several Chinese human rights activists. Google has since announced it would stop censoring its search-engine in China, and possibly close down its China operations.
Universities
American investigators have reportedly traced the attacks to two Chinese universities — the well-reputed Shanghai Jiaotong University, known for its computer science programme, and the little-known Lanxiang vocational college.
In its first official response to Google's claims, the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said the allegations were unfounded.
“Reports that these attacks came from Chinese schools are totally groundless and the accusation of Chinese government involvement is also irresponsible and driven by ulterior motives,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang.
“According to law”
He added: “China administers its internet according to law, and this position will not change. China prohibits hacking and will crack down on hacking according to law.”
The Chinese government restricts access to politically-sensitive websites, and foreign companies registered here are required to follow China's censorship policies. China has the world's biggest and fastest-growing internet market, with more than 380 million Internet users.
The New York Times had reported on Thursday that the cyber-attacks had been traced to two Chinese universities and specifically to a computer science class taught by a Ukrainian professor at Lanxiang in northern Shandong province.
Both universities have strongly denied any involvement. Li Zixiang, Lanxiang's head, said the school was a vocational school that taught “cooking, auto repair and hairdressing”. Lanxiang had no Ukrainian teacher, he said.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Hackers love Windows
Microsoft Windows is by far the most widely used operating system in the world and as such it is also a favourite of many hackers.
Last year 99 per cent of all malicious software was intended for computers running Windows. German anti-virus software maker G Data, which concentrates in this area, says online criminals operate from an economic standpoint and continually go after the largest target, in this case Windows.
Virus experts at the company last year documented more than 1.5 million new malicious software programmes. Data G points out that the number of viruses, Trojan horse programmes, worms and other malware detected in a given week last year was about the same as the number detected in all of 2004.
