China admits censorship software is flawed

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 17 Jun 2009 at 10:17

The creators of censorship software that will be shipped with every PC in China have admitted that it leaves users vulnerable to hackers.

The Green Dam Youth Escort software was designed to protect Chinese internet users from anything the state deems objectionable, such as certain political sites, and was originally set to be mandatory for all computers in the country.

This week China changed tack and said that use of the tool will be voluntary, although it will have to be shipped with every new PC as of July 1.

The problem with the software involves its filtering tool, writes China Tech Daily, which could allow viruses and trojans to infect machines. This backdoor would leave users open to data loss or remote control of their computers, its makers claim.

According to the site, about 50 million users are already running the software. The maker of the program, Jiangmin, advises that customers stop using the filtering tool until a fix can be released.

Earlier this week an American firm claimed that the Green Dam software, which is created by a company with links to the Chinese military, contains stolen code. Solid Oak Software complains that code from its CyberSitter security package can be found in Green Dam.