Google Attains Superpower Statis

Hacked…..companies and even governments get hacked and information stolen, what seems like, on a daily basis. Corporate espionage has been around since the Internet began. They come and they go. There news one day, and “old” news the next.

Remember, just a few months back, when the United States Power Grid was found to be infested with trojan horses. Yeah, that was news and it was covered by the media. But how long did it make the headlines…..a day or two is all.  The Power Grid was hacked….that is big!!

Remember when Citicorp was found to have been hacked….probably not, as it never made the headlines, it was a secondary story at best. OK, you may say that this was because it was denied by Citicorp, but it never even made the news.

Conficker, yeah now that made the headlines, the ‘worm’ did. But what about the destruction that it caused. You probably are not aware that the University of Utah was infected back in April causing their network to have to be shut down. Check out my post HERE.

Or maybe that, more recently, in December, New Zealand’s Waikato Health Board was infected with this nasty worm causing health services to be disrupted over a large area of the island nation. Again, check out my post HERE.

OK, I agree, these may have not been direct attacks, but it was a hack, none the less. Services were disrupted, and information was attempted to be compromised. That is a hack.

Well now it appears it has happened to the wrong company. Google has been in the news, and in blog posts for weeks now. Did you know that many other companies and organizations were infiltrated also. Probably not. Adobe has been in the news as they were also hacked at the same time that Google was, but only as an ‘honorable mention’ in a Google headline. The culprit has been speculated to be the People’s Republic of China but no incriminating evidence has been found directly implicating China.

Google and 32 other companies. Like I said, one is Adobe, but I have not heard them mentioned in a headline. Adobe is huge, almost every single computer user has something made by Adobe on their machine, whether it be Flash, Reader, Acrobat, Photoshop, Shockwave Player, etc. You see where I am heading. Who are the other 31 companies?

So why Google? Google is truly a superpower and is the ‘only’ company that could possibly have done what they have done….threaten the Chinese Government. By threatening to pull completely out of China is huge. Although, they only maintain about a 30% share of search in China compared to Baidu’s 70% market share, it is not only Google Search that is in jeopardy here. There is also Google’s multitude of services that are offered. Docs, Reader, Gmail, Maps, Calender, and all the rest of Google’s Services would also be gone.

Google even prompted a response from the United States’ Government. A speech given by Secretary of State Clinton asked the question for China to “Explain Themselves”. This is unheralded in the tech industry. Although Microsoft has been involved in many incidents that have made the Headlines, but never to the magnitude that Google has.

So why is Google getting all the press, being backed by the U.S. Government? Because they have called out China and have succeeded. China is on the defensive. Although, they are playing hard line, the fact of the matter is that if Google were to pull completely out of China, it would be painful for them. Not only is Google a major internet player in China, Google is also the one and only entity that could feasibly have the potential to return the favor. Of course, this is radical talk, and would never happen, but I am sure that it weighs on the minds of the Chinese Government.

Google has become such a force that almost everything revolves around what they are doing. Microsoft, although has come close in their time, has never had the same clout that Google has. Apple, although has a habit of monopolizing the tech news with every one of their new releases, like with their release of the iPhone, and, more recently, the iPad, but never to the same level in which Google has done. Google has become a ‘Superpower’ of sorts, and has the ability to push, and push hard. Thankfully, that is not the Google way, but it will certainly be interesting to see how the standoff with China turns out. Will Google fold to the enormous financial possibilities in China, or will they stand strong and be a determining factor in the ‘Human Rights’ issues in the Far East Nation.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see Microsoft, Yahoo, and other major tech companies stand tall, and join Google in this stand-off?

It remains to be seen……