Slashdot Mirror
China's Politburo Behind Google Cyber-Attack?
theodp writes "While Wikileaks itself is under a DoS attack, details about the US State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks are starting to come out via the mainstream media. Among the most newsworthy, reports Techcrunch's Erick Schonfeld, is one set which deals with the massive computer attack on Google and other companies which was first revealed last January. According to the NY Times, some of the new leaked cables point directly at China's Politburo for instigating the original attacks, which should shed some more light on why the White House and State Department backed Google so vociferously at the time. Developing, as Drudge likes to say."
For such an embarrassment these leaks do go some way to promoting the US world view, or is that just editing from the media outlets. Examples such as many middle eastern counties (Saudi, Jordan and Egypt etc) urging US to bomb Iran, as well as the links below
Iraq document leaks show US forces found WMD after invasion - http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/10/wikileaks-show-wmd-hunt-continued-in-iraq-with-surprising-results/
Wikileaked documents normalise Iraq civilian death toll at 'massive' 66,000
Everyone seems to dislike Assange's approach to public relations. But then again, how many people know/knew Anna Politkovskaya? Assange seems to be quite the media's darling and whatever, but that might be essential for his own safety.
1. No country is above this. Most of Slashdot readers have even dabbled in this as some point or another.
2. No they don't. And they're right. It's only a matter of time before the US government figures out a way to crush wikileaks in a way that makes no one else ever try it again.
3. Plenty 12 year olds have the capability of launching a DDoS attack. The US wouldn't be tipping any hand. And, just because they are under a DDoS attack doesn't mean that's all that's going on. This may very well be a symptom or a diversion of something else entirely.
Yes, wikileaks is DDoSing their own site for attention. On the day they probobly got more hits than any other site on the internet they feel the need to DDoS themselves so no one can read what their publishing, so they can get more attention... even though they already have every News organization and Political party on earth staring directly at them. You're brilliant.
Was "China" (ie somebody in China) behind the attack on Google? Perhaps; all governments at some level do this kind of things.
But I don't think this is anything like the main story to extract from this leak; which is much more about what American government and diplomats think, privately, about everybody else. Very revealing stuff, I think, which confirms what we all have had our suspicions about.
In their defence I'll say that what you think in private is often much less refined than what you end up saying or doing, so perhaps we shouldn't judge them too harshly.