Google cyber attack 'a watershed moment'

2010-01-19

The recent high-profile cyber attack on Google and a number of other companies has been described as a "watershed moment" in internet security.

McAfee worldwide chief technology officer George Kurtz said the world has now changed as a result of the attack.

He claimed it is the biggest and most sophisticated attack targeted at certain corporations that the security company has seen in years.

"Organisations globally will have to change their threat models to account for this new class of highly sophisticated attack that goes after high-value intellectual property," Mr Kurtz commented.

McAfee has now issued advice for companies to check if they were compromised by the attack.

One of its recommendations is to look out for communication with outside systems associated with the attack in network traffic history.

Google has now claimed to have evidence suggesting the primary aim of the attack was to gain access the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

Read more security news.