Cyberwars

Chinese Schools Behind Google Attacks

One institution linked to the military.

When Google went on the offensive against China after attacks on the company’s servers were sourced to the nation, most assumed the Chinese government was behind them. But a new inquiry traces the attacks to computers at two schools in China. The attacks were aimed at getting computer codes and emails sent by Chinese human-rights activists, and pilfering trade secrets off Google’s servers. One of the schools in question has strong links to the Chinese military. A new concern is the possibility that it was not the Chinese government but some outside force that was attempting to break into Google’s information. The schools involved are Shanghai Jiaotong University and Lanxiang Vocational School, according to knowledgeable sources. Some are still cautioning that the Chinese government could have set up proxies to avoid implication. Spokespeople for the two schools said they had not heard that the threats had been traced to their computers. One professor commented that he is “not surprised,” and that “students hacking into foreign Web sites is quite normal.” He cited “geek students” who may just have been “experimenting with their hacking skills learned in school,” or that the “university’s IP addresses were [sic] hijacked by others, which frequently happens.”