So Google is pulling out of China. Because their networks were hacked. By people who wanted names and addresses of Chinese dissidents. I wonder who could have done that.
The simple truth, the one that every American network administrator already knows but that most Americans don’t, is that we are already in a cyber-war with the Chinese.
When I was running a State-funded website, mysterious people coming from Chinese IP addresses were endlessly trying to hack into our firewall, penetrate our website and attack our databases. Chinese universities were the primary source. I have wondered whether Chinese tech students casually attack American targets. Or if they’re encouraged. Or if their servers are just so unpatched and unmaintained that other people were using them as stalking horses.
Regardless of the reason, we were casually attacked every day, and attacked with diligence from time to time. SQL injection attacks, Coldfusion attacks, Javascript attacks, malformed URLs, attempts to “pop a shell,” you name it, they tried it.
And they’re trying it against big-time targets too, like Google and the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security. They’re hacking into White House emails and leaving malware on the networks that control the flow of electric power.
We just keep letting them. Heck, we outsource our software development, R & D, technical services and everything else to the Chinese! I sure hope we’re growing some good hackers and coders here in the States. Someday America is going to realize we desperately need them.