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Google Investigating Chinese Employees

BluePeppers writes "The Guardian is reporting that Google China is investigating its staff about The Incident. '"We're not commenting on rumor and speculation. This is an ongoing investigation and we simply cannot comment on the details," a Google spokeswoman said. Security analysts told Reuters the malicious software or malware used in the attack was a modification of a trojan called Hydraq. A trojan is a hidden program allowing unauthorized access to a computer. The analysts said the sophistication in the attack was in knowing whom to attack, not the malware itself.'"

18 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Google is more powerful than I thought.. by brokenin2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I didn't know they could go back in time and undo the incident. Very impressive!

  2. Spies everywhere by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why should Google be surprised. The funny thing is that all Google will be able to do is fire that person. And then they will get to take a job with a Baidu (or may already be working for them).

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    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:Spies everywhere by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And I suspect alot of Google China employees draw a paycheck from the People's Liberation Army and other Chinese Government agencies.

    2. Re:Spies everywhere by GiveBenADollar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But the real question is how many Chinese Government officials are drawing a Google paycheck. I suspect that Google now has more spies than the Vatican.

    3. Re:Spies everywhere by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm drawing a good pay check from the Judean People's Front for spying on Google.

  3. Re:In lieu of? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    His grammar is down the lieu.

  4. it's aftermath! by bigmaddog · · Score: 4, Funny

    Irregardless of the actual story content, I find the poster's use of "in lieu" to be the penultimate atrocity vis-a-vis the English language.

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    Even as you read this, your pants are strangling your loins! Aaa!

  5. Re:In lieu of? by garg0yle · · Score: 4, Informative

    I think they meant "in light of" (as in, in response to). "In lieu of", as you know, means essentially "instead of", and would not make sense in this context. So, you are correct. I just hope you don't get modded down as "grammar police".

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    Modding "-1, Troll" is not a proper response if you disagree with me. Try reason.
  6. Loose lips sink ships. by Mal-2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I bet it was your run of the mill social engineering. Someone on the attacking side befriended someone on the inside and either coaxed the information out, or just waited until they mentioned it in passing. Once they knew who to target, they could then pump this employee to see if the attack was having any effect, from the perspective of an insider.

    It could be a Facebook friend, it could be a normal face-to-face friend, or it might be a "swallow". Governments certainly use this method of social engineering, but I would be quite surprised if companies do not do it as well.

    Mal-2

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
  7. Re:In lieu of? by Rary · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is Slashdot. Every summary must have at least one grammatical error.

    And "investigating it's staff" wasn't good enough?

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    "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein

  8. the Chinese staffer's name ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... is In Lieu, you insensitive clods!

  9. Somewhere in Mountain View... by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Somewhere in Mountain View, servers are now analyzing all activity of Google's employees in China. And their friend. And their friend's friends. And the people they email. And everyone who got in range of a Google security camera. And all the their friends. And the people they email.

    1. Re:Somewhere in Mountain View... by e2d2 · · Score: 4, Funny

      ENHANCE!

    2. Re:Somewhere in Mountain View... by NevarMore · · Score: 5, Funny

      ..and showing them text advertisements for criminal defence lawyers.

    3. Re:Somewhere in Mountain View... by Herkum01 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh my god, it was KEVIN BACON!

  10. Welcome to the new world by jonpublic · · Score: 5, Informative

    Chinese companies copied part for part GM cars and as far as I know, nothing came of it. You could literally take the door off the Chevy and put a door from the Chinese car company on it. We don't impose any trade sanctions, we just keep buying their stuff.

    I'd find the link but I don't have time.

    Hopefully this google flap will get people to pay attention to how they are catching up.

     

    1. Re:Welcome to the new world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      here is the link... from 2005!

      http://www.autoblog.com/2005/04/16/chinese-copy-cats/

  11. Re:Incident by Arthur+Grumbine · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apparently something so significant happened that people can just call it "The Incident" and expect others to know about it. Yet I've never heard of anything happening to Google, or originating from Google significant enough and shocking enough to be titled "The Incident". (The worst I've heard is about their camera cars going up the occasional private road).

    Seriously?! You've been posting regularly on /. for this last week yet you somehow managed to miss nine of the most commented on stories?! Well, here they are in chronological order:
    Google Hacked, may pull out of China
    Google.cn has already lifted censorship
    Google.cn attack part of broad spying effort
    China emphasizes law as Google defies censorship
    Google attackers identified as Chinese government
    IE 0-day flaw used in Chinese attack
    Code used to attack Google now public
    German government advises public to stop using IE
    Another attack, on law firm suing China
    This is also all over the mainstream and business news (although, like all other news stories, it's secondary to the Haiti coverage).

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    Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.