• The New York Times, Monday, November 29, 2010 1:39 PM

The Chinese government was indeed responsible for the hack on Google's Gmail system earlier this year, according to diplomatic cables captured by Wikileaks, and published this weekend by The New York Times. The revelation -- unearthed from the daily traffic between the U.S. State Department and some 270 embassies and consulates over three years -- is perhaps the most immediately relevant to the online business community.

"China's Politburo directed the intrusion into Google's computer systems in that country, a Chinese contact told the American Embassy in Beijing in January," one cable reported, according to The Times. "The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government." Moreover, "They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002," according to the new uncovered cables.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »