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

by Nicole Perlroth

The Chinese could have easily cracked those accounts by spraying them with possible passwords. But passwords can be changed. Hackers can be locked out after a series of wrong tries. The Chinese were looking for more permanent access. By stealing Google’s source code, China’s hackers could potentially implant backdoors into Gmail software, guaranteeing long-term access to any Gmail account of their choosing. And it became clear they were after their usual targets. Along with prodemocracy activists, China considers Tibetans, Uighur Muslims, pro-independence Taiwanese, and Falun Gong practitioners to be what the state calls the Five Poisons—groups the Chinese Communist party deems the biggest threat to their standing. China had reserved its best zero-day exploits and its top hackers to menace its own people.