These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

A new approach to China – Google Public Policy Blog

In an unprecidented move, Google has essentially made a conscious decision to wrap up its business within the Chinese nation. For those of you that don’t know the story, Google and about 30 other large US corporations were hacked. When Google discovered the intrusion into their network, they traced the hackers back through Taiwan to mainland China. The offshoot of this is that Google will no longer censor their data for China. This means the Chinese authorities are likely to force Google out of the country and list them as bad guys on the Great Firewall of China.

This is not the first time American companies have been targetted by Chinese hackers. And while everyone is being very careful to say this may not be sanctioned by the Chinese Government, it is pretty evident that they must have some involvement in the actions. A large proportion of the attacks against Google have been attempts to gain access to the email of human rights activists within China. Google maintains that this goal was not accomplished.

The furor over the attack, which targeted over 30 U.S. companies, was primed to grow Friday after researchers identified the command-and-control servers behind the attack — and pointed the finger squarely at the Chinese government. Cyber-security experts at Verisign iDefense labs said their analysis showed that “the attack is the work of actors operating on behalf of or in the direct employ of official intelligence entities of the People’s Republic of China.”

U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman said Friday that China-based attacks on U.S. government computers have been “ongoing for a long time.”

Microsoft wound up getting sorely embarrassed after CEO Steve Ballmer said the company would remain in China and abide by its censorship — just hours before a cyber-security firm said that a previously unknown vulnerability in the company’s Internet Explorer browser was a key “vector” exploited during the attack.

Google Gets U.S. Backing and Evidence China May Be Behind the Attack – Daily Finance

But if that is the case, then the next question becomes, why did these attacks also target companies like Symantec, Juniper Networks and, most troubling of all, Northrope Gunman and Dow Chemical. This is more than fishing for information about dissidents or activists. Those last two are significant defence contractors to the US military. That takes these attacks from being simple information gathering to potential government espionage or worse.

When Russia attacked Georgia in 2008, their physical attack with tanks and the like was also backed up with a very damaging cyber attack. It became known as Cyber War 2. The attack brought down multiple government websites and networks, and completely disrupted telephone communications for significant periods of time. It was so wide spread and significant that the Presidents website was moved from Georgia to a server in Atlanta, Georgia in the US. This had several purposes behind it.

Firstly, it allowed the Georgian government to communicate with the people. Secondly, by moving the site to a server hosted in the US it meant the Russians were very unlikely to attack the site or the server. Doing so would be almost guaranteed to bring the US into the conflict and Russia was not likely prepared to go to war with the US.

However, I think that with this attack by the Chinese, that could very well be a turning point. That they were willing to attack American companies is one thing. But that they attacked companies that contract to the US Military is a completely different story. That takes the action from being something the FBI might investigate and turns it into a Pentagon issue.

What will the US authorities do and how will this affect relations between the two nations?

Well, officially response from the White House has been very muted. From Capitol Hill theres been a louder response. Loudest being that any other companies that were targetted should step forward and be as vocal as Google has been. But there is also hope in some quarters that this incident will allow a bill to be passed. The intention of that bill is to dissuade US technology companies from doing business in China.

When it all comes down to it, theres not much anyone can do. Short of open warfare, theres very little that can be done. The world relies on China economically. China relies on the rest of the world for its energy. We buy their electronics and toys. In return they buy more coal and oil and gas.

Because of the Golden Shield (the Great Firewall of China) there is very little that can be done from outside China to educate the population within as to what is going on. Google has been trying to change censorship laws in China for over 3 years now and has failed miserably. Microsoft is making no effort to do anything at all except provide Chinese hackers with the swiss cheese security they need. And Yahoo owns very large amounts of very large online retailers within China. They are significantly vested in ongoing good relations with the government if they wish to be able to continue doing business there.

In the end, the only ones that can do anything to send a message to China are the average consumers and population. And the only way to do that is to simply not buy Chinese products. Thats amazingly difficult in our modern society, but it really is the only way to send a message to the Chinese. You’ll pay a premium for buying locally however. One of the reasons Chinese products are so cheap is simply scale of quantity. Unfortunately, that really is all you can do.

Would online antics like this be enough for you?