China. Hackers. Cyberattack. Again.

Another variation on a theme, in the news:

"U.S. Pinpoints Coder Behind Google Attack"
Reuters, via Threat Level, Wired (February 22, 2010)

"U.S. government analysts believe a Chinese man with government links wrote the key part of a spyware program used in hacker attacks on Google last year, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

"The man, a security consultant in his 30s, posted sections of the program to a hacking forum where he described it as something he was 'working on,' the paper said, quoting an unidentified researcher working for the U.S. government.

"The spyware creator works as a freelancer and did not launch the attack, but Chinese officials had 'special access' to his programing, the report said.

" 'If he wants to do the research he's good at, he has to toe the line now and again,' the paper quoted the unnamed U.S. government researcher saying...."

"...The allegations over the spyware are the latest episode in a dispute that has pitted Google and the United States against China, with its wall of Internet controls and legions of hackers.

"In January, the giant internet search engine company, Google, threatened to pull back from China and shut its Google.cn Chinese-language portal over complaints of censorship and sophisticated hacking from within China.

"Washington has backed those criticisms and urged Beijing to investigate hacking complaints thoroughly and transparently. Beijing has said it opposes hacking.

"The Financial Times report also quoted unnamed sources backing a New York Times report that analysts had traced the online attacks to two Chinese educational institutions, the prestigious Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang vocational school...."

On the 'up' side, it seems to me that China's unwillingness to play well with others is getting into the news a little more often now, than a few years ago. ("White House Computers Hacked, Probably by China: News That's Not Fit to Print? (November 9, 2008))

Other related posts:

• "Cyber Attacks Came From China - Again"
  (February 19, 2010)
• "'Everybody Knows' That Americans are Arrogant"
  (February 17, 2010)
• "News Stories You're Not Supposed to Know About"
  (December 31, 2009)
• "Haiyang Zhu Pleads Guilty in Decapitation of Xin Yang: Which Goes to Show Something"
  (December 22, 2009)
• "Empire State Building Goes Red and Gold for People's Republic Anniversary"
  (September 30, 2009)
• "China Shot 12: Don't Worry, They're 'Mobsters' "
  (July 19, 2009)
• "Cyber-Attacks 'No More Harmful than Spam' - So Far"
  (July 11, 2009)
• "Cyber-Attack Started July Fourth: Common Sense, Security, and the War on Terror"
  (July 10, 2009)
• "Uighur Riot? Revolt? Foreign Separatists? Depends on What You Read"
  (July 10, 2009)
• "A Reporter Escapes the Taliban, Monks Escape China"
  (June 20, 2009)
• "Tiananmen Square Commemoration in Hong Kong: No Tanks"
  (June 5, 2009)
• "Tiananmen Square 20th Anniversary: A Losing Battle for Traditional Information Gatekeepers"
  (June 3, 2009)
• "Chinese Anti-Carrier Missile: Cause for Concern"
  (March 31, 2009)
• "Cyberspy Network Hacked 103 Countries' Systems"
  (March 29, 2009)
• "Thai Police, Punctured Protesters, and Exploding Tear Gas from China"
  (October 13, 2008)

And click "China" in this blog's label cloud.