Google and Me

I don't know if it has happened to you or not....but it's happening more and more. One of my email accounts  edmyers@gmail.com  got hacked by the Chinese last week.

As a result, I think you all received a phony email from someone ...pretending to be me...telling you that I was recommending that you buy a particular Iphone.

The message that was sent under my name said something like....”I just purchased an Iphone......etc...and love it....You ought to buy one too. -Ed”

Google, which runs the site, notified me that the hacker came from China.

It could have been worse. It could have been a virus. But as far as I can determine it was only an advertisement.

Misery loves company, so my embarrassment was lessened a little bit when I read about how many important VIPs also had their gmail accounts compromised.


Hillary Clinton says FBI will investigate Gmail hacking; China denies involvement

Hillary Clinton

Hackers in China launched a phishing campaign that obtained access to the personal Gmail accounts of hundreds of people, including U.S. government officials, Google said in a blog post on Wednesday.

The Internet company said it was able to "disrupt" the scam but believes the hackers were able to monitor the accounts of Chinese political activists, officials from several Asian countries, journalists, military personal and U.S. government officials. The hackers were able to obtain passwords to Gmail accounts and change settings to have the accounts grant access to other users or have emails forwarded to another account.

To my Chinese hacker I'd like to say,

廉颇蔺 相如列 传照片 And that goes for your mother too!



But, there's more.  File this under, "Your Government at Work."

U.S. enables Chinese hacking of Google

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 U.S. government inadvertently aided the hackers.

In order to comply with government search warrants on user data, Google created a backdoor access system into Gmail accounts. This feature is what the Chinese hackers exploited to gain access.

(Source: CNN January 23, 2010)   

-Ed