The IT Nerd

Last week, I posted this tweet:

The good news here is that Apple patched all the exploits found on this site. Via @appleinsider https://t.co/pFVjcSnqcb

— The IT Nerd (@The_IT_Nerd) August 30, 2019

This was mind blowing that there were this many exploits for the iPhone floating around out there. The good news is that Apple patched them earlier this year. But Forbes has a story that indicates not only was this more extensive than thought, but we now know who the target was. And we now know that Google wasn’t telling us all the details:

Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation said that Google’s own Android operating system and Microsoft Windows PCs were also targeted in a campaign that sought to infect the computers and smartphones of the Uighur ethnic group in China. That community has long been targeted by the Chinese government, in particular in the Xinjiang region, where surveillance is pervasive.

Google’s and Microsoft’s operating systems were targeted via the same websites that launched the iPhone hacks, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. That Android and Windows were targeted is a sign that the hacks were part of a broad, two-year effort that went beyond Apple phones and infected many more than first suspected. One source suggested that the attacks were updated over time for different operating systems as the tech usage of the Uighur community changed…

The attacks appear to form part of a mass surveillance operation taking place on Uighur civilians, who’ve faced various forms of persecution in Xinjiang. Surveillance cameras are scattered across the region and facial recognition is prevalent.

Googles reputation has taken a monster dive with this revelation. When I first read this, it seemed that this were centered around iOS. But that’s apparently not true. They kind of left out the fact that Android which is Google’s own OS was affected by this along with Microsoft Windows. That’s a #Fail on Google’s part. Someone needs to slap them over that.

As for the fact that China is apparently behind this. I’m not shocked. China are the dirtiest players in the game. You can bet that they had other attacks on every platform ready to go after these ones were discovered. Hopefully this incident forces everyone from the average user to Microsoft, Apple, and Google to up their game.

This entry was posted on September 2, 2019 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Google. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.