Google dropped a bomb 15 days ago in mid January, announcing it would pull out of China completely following what it described as attacks on itself and users of its services. The company further declared its unwillingness to continue toeing the official government line on Web censorship.

China has been an important market for almost all global industries, with its huge population and relatively low Web penetration. Many companies have bent over backwards to accommodate the government's directives on censoring content deemed unfavorable. Google in fact made headlines when it announced it would comply with these directives in 2006.

The announcement that its users, particularly Chinese human rights activists, had been attacked and that its intellectual property stolen by Chinese government officials was made through Google's official blog. Over 20 other companies had also been attacked, though names were not disclosed.

While most other companies have remained mum on whether or not they are planning similar moves, it seems unlikely that anyone else will upset the Chinese government and risk losing an enormous marketplace. The most outspoken voice has been that of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who supported Google, criticized China's internet controls, and called for a government investigation into the matter. China responded with a tersely worded statement, calling the allegations groundless and implying that US-China would be soured by the implications of her words.

In the meanwhile though, security analysts have been working overtime on a critical and previously unknown internet Explorer flaw detected to have enabled the incredibly sophisticated and orchestrated attacks. McAfee was the first to call it the "Aurora exploit", based on the name of a folder on the attacker's machine which was detected in the traces he left. Microsoft responded by releasing an unscheduled security update to patch the hole.