With the US investigations into the cyberattacks on Google and around 30 other companies pointing at the initiation of the attacks from computers at the Shanghai Jiaotong University and Lanxiang Vocational School in eastern China, ‘inside’ sources have revealed that initial forensic reports hint at the involvement of a well-known Asian hacking group – likely Chinese - in the attacks launched via electronic infiltration techniques.

An unnamed source close to the investigations has said that intelligence and law-enforcement officials have detected some familiar characteristics pertaining to the Web attacks; thereby underscoring the possibility that the group behind the attacks on Google and others has probably been involved in some earlier attacks that have been tracked.

Meanwhile, aware of the fact that online attacks are difficult to track and that digital footprints can actually be a “false flag” to lead investigators astray, Web security experts have stressed that it is imperative that the Chinese government is actively involved in the investigations so as to pin down the perpetrators of the attacks.

Though China has thus far announced no investigation into the attacks, O. Sami Saydjari, the founder of Wisconsin-based private Web security firm Cyber Defense Agency, said: “The US would not be able to trace this. We cannot trace it beyond borders. We’d need the cooperation of the Chinese.”