Yesterday, almost all of China’s 500 million Internet users were rerouted to a couple web addresses in a Cheyenne, Wyoming, home. According to The New York Times, a fluke in China’s Internet censoring system was the issue.
Chinese Internet sensors were apparently trying to block access to websites owned by Sophidea Incorporated, which is a rerouting service created to evade firewalls that runs its headquarters out of the mysterious Wyoming home. However, instead of blocking these sites, the sensors ended up blasting them with a shitload of traffic. This left millions of Chinese Internet users without access to .com, .net or .org addresses for close to eight hours.
After some research, it came out that there wasn’t justone questionable company operating in that house. According to Reuters, there’s close to 2,000 different companies running out of that home, including a shell company run by an imprisoned Ukrainian prime minister and a company banned from bidding on government contracts, after getting caught selling counterfeit equipment to the Pentagon.
Even stranger is that Sophidea Incorporated doesn’t provide much information about itself, and NY Times couldn’t find anyone to ask any questions.
Sketchy.
[via NY Times]
