The launch in China has been postponed,” Google said, without specifying when or if the launch would take place. Last week, Google stated that it was considering abandoning its Chinese search engine, and could shut its China offices, over theft of its intellectual property by hackers allegedly based there. –Photo by Reuters

BEIJING: Google said Tuesday it had postponed the launch of two mobile handsets in China, in the latest fallout from its threat last week to withdraw from the Asian giant over cyberattacks and censorship.

The US company said in an email to AFP that the phones featuring Google’s Android operating system and developed in cooperation with Motorola and Samsung had been scheduled to be unveiled Wednesday with China Unicom.

“The launch has been postponed,” Google said, without specifying when or if the launch would take place.

Google said last week it was considering abandoning its Chinese search engine, and could shut its China offices, over theft of its intellectual property by hackers allegedly based there.

The row has threatened to strain ties between the United States and China.

The California-based company says it is no longer willing to bow to Chinese Internet censors by filtering search results on google.cn, but is still seeking talks with Beijing on a solution.

When asked about the status of talks on Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said he was “not aware of the situation” and countered that China was in fact the “biggest victim” of hacking activities in the world.

The spokesman also reiterated that foreign firms operating in China “need to follow China’s laws and regulations, respect the interests of the general public and shoulder the corresponding responsibilities. “Google is not an exception,” he said.

Google said the cyberattacks were likely aimed at gaining access to the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, but has said it does not believe that goal was achieved.

The company is checking whether any of its China staff helped hackers lead the attack, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The search giant said more than 20 other unidentified firms were targeted in the “highly sophisticated” attacks, believed to have originated in China, while other reports have put the number of companies attacked at more than 30.

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Seoul, Korea, September 1, 2009 – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, a leading mobile phone provider, today announced the availability of Samsung Corby (model: S3650), a mobile phone designed to support the digitally connected lifestyles of today’s young mobile users.

The Samsung Corby, available across Europe later this month, is a full-touch handset that places users at the center of the social media revolution with a wide range of social networks support, such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. The new mobile complements the company’s touch screen strategy, “touch for every lifestyle,” by targeting the youth market.

“We see strong growth opportunities in this sector and will continue to pioneer new markets with innovative technology. The Corby is consistent with Samsung’s legacy of developing new products and technologies designed for specific audiences and bringing new devices quickly to market,” explained JK Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Communications Division.

The device represents a complete makeover for the youth segment, with its eye-catching profile featuring two-tone diagonal contours. The Samsung Corby is notable for both its body design and colors – which mark a significant break from the way full touch phones are usually designed. It is available in bold color options such as Jamaican Yellow, Cupid Pink, Minimal White, and Festival Orange so that users can choose their favorite colors.

“Globally, we are number one for full-screen touch phones and recognize the importance of social networks in the modern mobile industry. Samsung’s target audiences are at the heart of its business strategy and the design and functionality of Samsung Corby meets the needs of a highly digitally connected and style conscious youth audience – as does the affordable price point,” continued JK Shin.

The best social networking services are combined with enhanced multimedia capabilities in a compact form factor. Corby’s 2.8-inch QVGA screen delivers a quality online video experience and its quad band connectivity and support for EDGE networks means that Samsung Corby users can stay in touch regardless of their location.

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Microsoft is working to patch the vulnerability through a software update

Microsoft has admitted that its Internet Explorer was a weak link in the recent attacks on Google’s systems that originated in China.

The firm said in a blog post on Thursday that a vulnerability in the browser could allow hackers to remotely run programs on infected machines.

Following the attack, Google threatened to end its operations in China.

Microsoft has released preliminary guidance to mitigate the problem and is working on a formal software update.

So far, Microsoft “has not seen widespread customer impact, rather only targeted and limited attacks exploiting Internet Explorer 6″.

“Based upon our investigations, we have determined that Internet Explorer was one of the vectors used in targeted and sophisticated attacks against Google and possibly other corporate networks,” said Microsoft’s director of security response Mike Reavey in the post.

‘Unfortunate’

Security firm McAfee told news agency AFP that the attacks on Google, which targeted Chinese human rights activists worldwide, showed a level of sophistication above that of typical, isolated cyber criminal efforts.

McAfee’s vice-president of threat research Dmitri Alperovitch told AFP that although the firm had “no proof that the Chinese are behind this particular attack, I think there are indications though that a nation-state is behind it”.

The recent spate of attacks was alleged to have hit more than 30 companies including Google and Adobe, but security firms have since said that such invasions are routine.

Mr Reavey echoed this in the post.

“Unfortunately cyber crime and cyber attacks are daily occurrences in the online world. Obviously, it is unfortunate that our product is being used in the pursuit of criminal activity. We will continue to work with Google, industry leaders and the appropriate authorities to investigate this situation.”

BBC News