Unless you have been living under a rock you would be hard pressed to have missed the Google vs China situation as it has become known.
What has happened is that entities within China, that may or may not be the Chinese Government or at least backed by the Chinese Government have been caught accessing Google’s computer systems through unauthorised means. Some articles say some Gmail accounts were hacked, others indicate it may have been more serious, as Google has a back end system that allows them to easily collect all data on individuals from Google services. This is used when supplying information to law enforcement, and the indications are this system may have been accessed.
The most notably thing is that it has been caught and is being talked about in a big way.
Here is a good perspective from the Shadowserver foundation.
Little by little organizations of all types are being broken into and having intellectual property and other information stolen.
Unfortunately we can tell you these scenarios are playing out day in and day out on a massive scale, whether we recognize it or not.
Cyber Espionage Intrusions Run Rampant: Google Compromise is *NOT* atypical
Targeted cyber intrusions are occurring daily at a very staggering level. Industries in the United States are heavily targeted but this truly is a global problem that is facing nearly every nation. These are not your run of the mill cyber attacks. They may have varying levels of sophistication, however, the attacks are often much more advanced than what most users have and will likely ever see. The next closest thing, perhaps on a parallel playing field, is those that are stealing vast amounts of money from banking systems that require two-factor authentication and/or dual approvers to transact. In these cases the attacks often start off extremely broad and are narrowed down.
http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/pmwiki.php/Calendar/20100119
Whether we get the full picture or not, the one thing that is certain is that something annoyed Google, who had up until now been censoring results on behalf of the Chinese Government.
Additional Links:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0113/China-cyber-attacks-Google-only-one-of-many-US-targets
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/01/hack-for-oil/
http://www.ironcove.net/2008/04/when-dragons-attack-tibetan-hacking-review/
