Investigators have created profiles of the hackers that show they have been involved in cyber attacks on large defense, financial and energy companies, said the person, who asked to remain anonymous. The person declined to name the firms.
The security expert couldnt confirm a story by the New York Times that said the attacks on Google e-mail accounts, which were disclosed last month by the Mountain View, California-based company, originated at two Chinese educational institutions.
Google threatened to leave China as part of its disclosure of the violations in January.
The National Security Agency and cyber-security consultants have been investigating the breach, the Times said. Marci Green, a spokeswoman for the NSA, declined in an e-mail to comment on the Times story.
The schools involved are the Lanxiang Vocational School and Shanghai Jiaotong University, the Times said, citing anonymous people with knowledge of the investigation.
A person who answered the phone at the Lanxiang Vocational School and declined to be identified said the school isnt involved in the attacks described by Google because the institutions students are at the middle-school level and the facility isnt equipped with high-technology equipment needed for such attacks.
Jill Hazelbaker, a spokeswoman for Google, declined to comment.
Hacker Profiles
The person who has examined the breaches said investigators have created profiles of the hackers based on the types of cyber violations, the way the computer code was written and the symbols used in the code.
These indicators have been found in the earlier attacks, the person said.
Google said the breach included theft of its intellectual property and hacking into the e-mail accounts of human rights activists, and that it targeted at least 20 other “large” companies in technology, finance and chemicals.