This video, while “amusing”, is quite interesting :
Though not many details are given, I am quite skeptical about the possibility of such a massive attack.
However, it shows well that security is not just a technical matter. It has many implications in law, politics, economics, and a whole information system must be prepared to that, starting with our leaders.
That would be a HUGE effort for our politicians here in France – if they ever care…
And Google is making so much noise about that ?
If what is said is true, it nothing else but a trojan. A good one, but nothing new otherwise.
I would also say that the most targeted company was Microsoft. After all, it was an Internet Explorer 0-days breach that was exploited. Once the computer was infected, I bet that the trojan was doing much more than just targeting Gmail. To maximise the chance of an attack to succeed, a good trojan comes with a bunch of functionalities and harvest as many things as possible on the computer. Thus I doubt the target was only Google.
As Steve Ballmer said (hey, I didn’t think I would ever quote him here ! :D ), it happens every day. And it must not be something new in a country like China. And suddenly, Google cares ? Whereas they quietly applied censorship in China until then ? I always become suspicious when a multinational company claims it cares about human rights to the detriment of its business.
Maybe Google is just really wanting to get out of China for some reason (not so popular there with the competition of Baidu?) and is looking for an excuse. More details will certainly be coming so time will tell…