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Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King

Bloomberg: Yahoo was also target of Chinese cyber attack

By | January 14, 2010, 9:36am PST

Summary: Yahoo, like Google, was reportedly also a target of a cyber attack that originated in China, according to a Bloomberg report.

Bloomberg, citing an unnamed source., is reporting that Yahoo was the target of cyber attacks that originated in China, similar to those disclosed by Google earlier this week. The company did not confirm such attacks to Bloomberg but said it “stands aligned” with Google in condemning them. (Techmeme)

Yahoo, which has had its share of headaches in the past over policies in China, no longer operates Yahoo China. In a 2005 deal, Yahoo gave control of Yahoo China to Alibaba and paid $1 billion for a 39 percent stake in it.

When Google announced earlier this week that it had been the target of an a cyber attack that originated in China and threatened to shutter its China web site, it also said that at least 20 other large companies in the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors were similarly targeted. Shortly after, Adobe confirmed that it was the victim of a “sophisticated” and “coordinated” attack on its corporate network systems, though it was unclear if that attack originated in China. Adobe became aware of the attack on Jan. 2, 2010.

Yesterday, a Los Angeles law firm joined the list of those reportedly targeted in an attack that originated in China. That attack was discovered early this week, days after the firm filed a $2.2 billion suit against the People’s Republic of China on behalf of a California software company that says the government, as well as Chinese software developers and PC manufacturers, illegally used 3,000 lines of its code in a filtering program that was to be installed on every PC sold in that country.

The law firm said it began receiving trojan e-mails, designed to infiltrate its network, on Monday night. It was unclear if any of the attempts to get into the system were successful. It also said that the software company it represents was the target of a similar attack last summer, shortly after news about it software piracy went public.

The Chinese government, in response to Google’s intention to uncensor its Chinese site, said that foreign Internet companies are welcome in China but that they must obey the laws, according to a New York Times report. Google has said that it is willing to shut down its site and close its offices there.


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Sam has been a technology and business blogger for more than 18 years.

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Sam Diaz

Sam Diaz has nothing to disclose.

Biography

Sam Diaz

Sam has been a technology and business blogger, reporter and editor at ZDNet, the Washington Post, San Jose Mercury News and Fresno Bee for more than 18 years. He's a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and a graduate of California State University, Fresno.

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RE: Bloomberg: Yahoo was also target of Chinese cyber attack
dsfwrryd1301-24353654314296078269402150143345 4th Nov
fgzajg,good post!
0 Votes
+ -
Just shut them already
Cylon Centurion Updated - 14th Jan 2010
Forget the Chinese. If they are going to wage war against Western governments and businesses, we should just shut our offices and leave them to their own device.

Blocking their IP addresses, and prevent any Chinese traffic from entering allied countries and take all possible precautions to prevent further attacks.

It's pretty clear the the Chinese have no interest in becoming part of the larger whole, and if they want to be on their own, and jealous of the way we live our lives, I say forget them. I'd like to see how long they manage without outside contact.
0 Votes
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totally agree........
OhTheHumanity 14th Jan 2010
I think we should take huge unexpected action against them and show them that we are serious. Very highly doubtful though.
0 Votes
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Block all traffic from China
quangvhg 14th Jan 2010
I'm planing to block all traffic from China, not only because it's low in value but also dangerous
0 Votes
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But why is the issue not front-and-center that THE
ATTACK WAS DUE TO an MSFT FLAW IN MS Internet Explorer
as announced today by McAFEE? MSFT is the same company
that announced today (Steve Ballmer on CNBC at
3:40EST) that MSFT was continuing to want to play by
all the censorship rules and spying-on-the-populace
espionage rules as imposed by China. And that very
MSFT viewpoint is exactly the opposite viewpoint that
has been trumpeted by YAHOO and GOOGLE over these past
several days?

Why are these two important pieces of data not at the
front-and-center of the discussion?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10435232-245.html
0 Votes
+ -
DID MSFT "ENGINEER" THE FLAW ON PURPOSE? If MSFT is in
agreement with China's censorship and "spy-on-the user"
operations as announced by Steve Ballmer on CNBC today
(14jan2010) at 3:40 EST, did MSFT put the flaw into MS
Internet Explorer on purpose to allow for this espionage?
If not, then the argument is simply that MSFT is
incompetent?

Is incompetence a reasonable defense in this case when
the outcome supports MSFT's stated policy position ?
0 Votes
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Don't use webmails: gmail, hotmail, yahoo, ...
whitenight2010 14th Jan 2010
They are unsafe!
0 Votes
+ -
M$ is the tool that the spies enjoy
Agnostic_OS 17th Jan 2010
Google & Yahoo, proved to be hack via a flaw in Microsoft's Internet Browser and Ballmer can't see what all the fuss is about!
Ha! Wait for the lawyers to get there teeth stuck into M$ for making a faulty tool to access the Web that can potentially damage other companies' business!
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Bloomberg: Yahoo was also target of Chinese cyber attack
dsfwrryd1301-24353654314296078269402150143345 4th Nov
fgzajg,good post!

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