China, GitHub and the man-in-the-middle (Greatfire)

The Greatfire.org site has a detailed analysis of a man-in-the-middle attack apparently directed against Chinese Github users. "It’s clear that a lot of software developers in China rely on GitHub for their code sharing. Completely cutting access affects big business. GitHub may just be too important to block. That leaves the authorities in a real pickle. They can’t selectively block content on GitHub nor monitor what users are doing there. They also cannot block the website altogether lest they hurt important Chinese companies. This is where man-in-the-middle attacks make their entrance. By faking SSL certificates, the authorities can indeed intercept and track traffic to encrypted websites."

Comments (21 posted)