Major breach in China's Internet censorship system: Over 500GB of source code and documents exposed online, allegedly sold to three foreign nations.
In a significant development, over 500GB of internal docs, source code, work logs, and internal communications from China's Great Firewall were leaked online on September 11. Known as the Geedge archive, this trove of information offers a rare glimpse into the engineering and commercialization of China's censorship system.
The files appear to originate from Geedge Networks and the MESA lab at the Institute of Information Engineering. The system, reportedly operated by Myanmar's state-run telecoms company, was integrated into core Internet exchange points and was rolled out across 26 data centers in Myanmar, with live dashboards monitoring 81 million simultaneous TCP connections.
Researchers are encouraging vigilance when examining the archive due to its sensitive nature. They strongly recommend the use of air-gapped VMs or other sandboxed environments for anyone downloading or examining the archive. This precaution is necessary given the archive's potential to reveal protocol-level weaknesses or operational missteps that censorship circumvention tools could exploit.
Partner reporting from WIRED and Amnesty International was involved in the investigation of this leak. The leaked documents show that Geedge's system can intercept unencrypted HTTP sessions, raising concerns about privacy and freedom of information.
Geedge's DPI infrastructure has been exported to other states, including Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Kazakhstan. In Pakistan, Geedge's equipment is allegedly part of a larger system known as WMS 2.0, capable of conducting blanket surveillance on mobile networks in real-time.
The leaked documents outline the internal architecture of a commercial platform called 'Tiangou', designed for use by ISPs and border gateways. 'Tiangou' is described as a turnkey 'Great Firewall in a box', with initial deployments reportedly built on HP and Dell servers.
The entire archive is now mirrored by Enlace Hacktivista and others, making it accessible to a wider audience. However, researchers are only beginning to evaluate the source-code archive, with a significant portion remaining under-evaluated.
The archive is a valuable resource for understanding the inner workings of China's censorship system and potential vulnerabilities. As researchers continue to delve into the details of the Geedge archive, more insights into China's digital surveillance practices are likely to emerge. But for now, caution remains the watchword.
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