US Inadvertently Enabled Chinese Google Hackers

Phrogman writes "In this CNN article by Bruce Schneier, he states that the US Government inadvertently enabled Chinese hackers access to Google's Gmail. The article states 'Google made headlines when it went public with the fact that Chinese hackers had penetrated some of its services, such as Gmail, in a politically motivated attempt at intelligence gathering. The news here isn't that Chinese hackers engage in these activities or that their attempts are technically sophisticated — we knew that already — it's that the US government inadvertently aided the hackers.'" Update: 02/22 20:26 GMT by S : As readers have noted, Schneier said not long after he wrote this article that he no longer thinks this is what happened.

Olllddd

[Trailrunner7]

This is a month old, and Schneier has since backed off this assertion.

I think Bruce has taken this back...

[Saint Aardvark]

Bruce appears to have taken back this assertion here [schneier.com]:

The rumor that China used a system Google put in place to enable lawful intercepts, which I used as a news hook for this essay, has not been confirmed. At this point, I doubt that it's true.

The original essay, linked to in TFP, is dated January 23rd; the update I quote from is from February 8th.

Re:Olllddd

[ratnerstar]

Exactly. See: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/02/more_details_on.html [schneier.com]

The rumor that China used a system Google put in place to enable lawful intercepts, which I used as a news hook for this essay, has not been confirmed. At this point, I doubt that it's true.

Seriously slashdot, you're not even trying. Although, I have to say it was somewhat irresponsible of Schneier, who in general I have enormous respect for, to write an essay predicated on an unconfirmed rumor.

Re:Olllddd

[Lunix Nutcase]

Okay [schneier.com].