This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race

In 2009, Google analysts realized that the company had been hacked by a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group codenamed Legion Yankee. The hackers were accessing Google’s source code, its most valuable intellectual property, and collecting user data. Left unchecked, this infiltration (“Aurora”) would allow the Chinese government to access any commercial product or software operated by Google, leaving users (including activists and dissidents) fully exposed to government surveillance. Google analysts led by Director of Information Security Heather Adkins jumped into frantic action, securing the software and ousting the probes in a protracted digital battle. Adkins discovered that numerous other major corporations had been similarly infiltrated by the same attack. In addition to informing the other targets of Aurora, Google made the unprecedented decision to go public with the news that they had been hacked by the Chinese government. Previously, victims of Chinese hacks—which were already endemic—had hidden the breaches like a dirty secret. Google’s openness had major political ramifications when the Whitehouse issued a statement condemning the hacks—even as the Chinese government denied involvement.

In response to Aurora, Google pulled out of the Chinese market entirely. The company had entered the market three years previously, uneasily complying with censorship laws in the name of compromise.