88. China vs Google: When Beijing Took on Silicon Valley (Ep 1)

"Like many other well-known organisations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis." This was the striking public statement from Google's chief legal officer in January 2010. What began as a major security incident - a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure, originating from China" and resulting in the theft of intellectual property - quickly escalated into a much larger geopolitical crisis.

This episode is the origin story of state-sponsored cyber espionage. It's the moment Google was hacked by a foreign state, and for the first time, publicly pointed the finger at who they believed was responsible: China. The attack was a canary in the coal mine for the world of Chinese cyber attacks and espionage we know today.

Join Gordon and David as they tell the story of how an act of cyber espionage descended into a debate about the complex equations between money and freedom of speech for Western companies operating in China.

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