Chinese Operation Against Google Involved Accessing the Firm’s Internal Intercept Systems
January 14th, 2010Via: Computer World:
Drummond said that the hackers never got into Gmail accounts via the Google hack, but they did manage to get some “account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line.”
That’s because they apparently were able to access a system used to help Google comply with search warrants by providing data on Google users, said a source familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press. “Right before Christmas, it was, ‘Holy s***, this malware is accessing the internal intercept [systems],'” he said.
That, in turn led to a Christmas Eve meeting led by Google co-founder Larry Page to assess the situation. Three weeks later, the company had decided that things were serious enough that it would risk walking away from the largest market of Internet users in the world.
Spy vs. Spy:
From the article – “Google’s security team eventually managed to gain access to a server that was used to control the hacked systems, and discovered that it was not the only company to be hit.”