Google reviews its Chinese business as hackers infiltrate Gmail accounts.

Google has said it will no longer agree to censor its results in China after revealing a number of highly sophisticated cyber attacks on companies and individuals.

In a blog from David Drummond, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer, Google said that in December it had detected “a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure” which had originated in China.

Upon further investigation, it then discovered a number of other attacks on at least 20 other large companies, as well as evidence to suggest that the attackers were actually targeting the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

Despite already making its own security enhancements, Google is advising its users to ensure they have reputable anti-virus software and to be cautious when clicking on links and being asked to share personal information.

Google says that as a result of the attacks it has uncovered and further attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web it is taking a harsh review of its operations in China.

Mr Drummond continued: “Over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognise that this may well mean having to shut down google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.”

Google launched google.cn in 2006 but came under mounting criticism when it agreed to adhere to censorship by the Chinese government. Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, defended the decision, speaking at the launch he commented: “I think it is arrogant for us to walk into a country where we are just beginning to operate and tell that country how to operate.”

Google said in its latest blog that despite feeling uncomfortable at having to censor results, the “benefits of increased access to information” for Chinese people far outweighed these.

Head of Communications and Current Affairs at Google’s UK, Ireland and Benelux regions, Peter Barron, told the BBC that Google will “no longer agree to censor our results in China.”

However, Google has failed to make the same impact in the Asian country as it has in the UK or US. Sources say it continues to lag behind rival search engine Baidu, which enjoys a 60% share of the market compared to Google’s 30%.

China has since responded to Google’s threat to stop censoring its search results. In a statement from the Foreign Office, spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: “China like other countries administers the internet according to the law.

“China’s internet is open and the Chinese government encourages development.”

Google’s shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange fell by 2% following the announcement, conversely Baidu shares benefited from the news and rose by 13%.