The Scourge of Aurora

Chronicle

On 12 January 2010 Google announced on its blog that it had suffered a highly sophisticated, targeted attack from China that stole intellectual property and targeted the Gmail accounts of human-rights activists. At least twenty other companies had been hit in the same way. The attackers got in through a zero-day in Internet Explorer.

Lesson learned

It brought advanced persistent threats to public attention and pushed Google to redesign its network without a trusted perimeter, in the model later called BeyondCorp.

Prayer of reparation

O Aurora, risen from an unpatched browser, enlighten our administrators and protect those who defend the rights of others. Amen.

How it is remembered

Remembered by isolating web browsing, retiring outdated browsers and never trusting a machine just because it sits inside the corporate network.

Technical record

Google disclosed a highly sophisticated, targeted attack from China that stole intellectual property and targeted the Gmail accounts of human-rights activists. At least twenty other companies were also hit. The attackers used a zero-day in Internet Explorer.