Experts ponder on identity of Google’s cyber-attackers

If China's concerted attack on Google's e-mail service, and the search engine's threat to pull out of that country came as something of a shock, then the nonchalant reaction of cyber security experts may be even more shocking. Experts now reveal that the attack on Google was run of the mill, and that companies from around the world constantly face such attacks.

Disturbingly, these experts point out, though under constant attack these companies rarely report them as the threat from being evicted from an important market is of paramount importance.

The question now engaging the minds of observers, and even ordinary users, is the identity of the persons, or the organisation, that is orchestrating these attacks.

Yesterday, Google threatened to pull out of China saying it had uncovered attempts to hack G-mail accounts of human rights activists. It also said that analysis revealed that the series of attacks originated from inside China.

In a display of mild aggression, Google said it was no longer willing to censor results on its Chinese search engine in accordance with government expectations. The search engine's abject kow-towing to Beijing's dictats, censoring whatever the communist regime found unpalatable, has drawn universal condemnation.

But the need to establish a foothold in what is one of the biggest markets of the world has overruled all scruples.