China Denies Gmail Hack Attack

It seems the cyber-attack Google says originated in China had some success, nabbing the login information of hundreds of journalists, Chinese political activists, and senior South Korean and U.S. government officials—including the personal email of one Cabinet-level official. Google said an ongoing “spear phishing” attack had been targeting government personnel and activists with emails designed to be relevant to the recipient, with subject lines like “Fw: Draft U.S.-China Joint Statement.” The messages led readers to sites that would steal their login information or silently redirect their email. A spokesman for China's Foreign Affairs Ministry said that “any blame against China in this [latest incident] is groundless and with an ulterior motive.” Google has said only that the attack appeared to originate in the city of Jinan. China's Lanxiang Vocational School, which trains computer scientists for China's military and where last year's hack attack on Google seemed to originate, is located in Jinan.