Britain’s real-life Q Branch is among sensitive government agencies funding academics with close ties to China’s military bodies, The Times can reveal.
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2-19-21 the Chinese government has aggressively moved to control the flow of information in the region. It has also made mass arrests of protesters under charges such as “subverting state power.” The PRC has also been conducting blanket surveillance that sweeps up even those that are not politically involved, for example monitoring and censoring Zoom conferences organized by businesses and schools. The country’s national security laws require companies based in its territory to turn over any information requested by the government.
Dissidents have responded to disinformation campaigns and surveillance by moving their communications to encrypted messaging apps and dark web forums. However, the researchers warn that this opens up inexperienced navigators to a new realm of criminal threats; some paid services have sprung up to safely guide activists and dissidents to the clandestine meeting places and resources that they are seeking.
The dark web is best known for the sale of illicit goods, everything from credit card skimming equipment to illegal drugs. This is the world that novices must learn to navigate, generally without assistance (unless they pay for it). And when they do find homes for political discussion, they are not necessarily ideologically friendly. The report finds that the most popular Chinese-language discussion forums on the dark web actually tend to be pro-PRC. https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/prc-spying-malware-and-disinformation-campaigns-push-hong-kong-dissidents-to-underground-communications-channels/
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3-17-21 When people run their credit card, pay a bill online, or withdraw money from an ATM, few consider the software and hardware that makes those transactions happen. They expect that their personal and financial information is secure. Yet, there is a silent but immense assault against consumers via their financial transactions. The financial service organizations on which we all rely are increasingly the chief target of cyber attacks.
A new report for China Tech Threat identifies that financial organizations have become the prime target of cyber attack, which a morass of government agencies and policies tasked with cyber-defenses have done little to abate. U.S. banks must take proactive measures—including cyber resilience audits, secure-sourcing strategies and removing elements with vulnerabilities—to protect their systems, data, and customers.
Cyber-attacks against major financial institutions have grown significantly in recent years. An analysis in 2015 found that financial organizations were targeted four times more than other industries. Only four years later, financial firms experienced as many as 300 times more cyber-attacks than other companies.
Those located in the United States were the most targeted, accounting for over a quarter (55 of 207) of major global cyber-attacks against financial services, according to the FinCyber Project by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and BAE Systems Applied Intelligence.
Increasingly attacks are perpetrated by Advanced Persistent Threat (APTs) actors. These sophisticated, sustained attacks are meant to infiltrate networks and conduct long-term operations, such as spying or data exfiltration. Unlike an opportunistic cyber-attack, in which the perpetrator seeks to “get in and get out” for some immediate payoff, an effective APT will skirt a system’s security and remain undetected for a prolonged period. A cyberattack on a bank can devastate its customers and systems; and a cyberattack on the US Treasury, which SolarWinds can dangerously close, could bring down the country.
Much cybersecurity discourse and practice are focused on software and applications, and while important, these can compel organizations to de-emphasize hardware and physical facilities security. As the Supermicro case illustrates, the motherboard hardware of a U.S. firm was compromised by third-party supplier linked to the PRC military to enable a sophisticated attack across the network of an organization. This revelation reportedly led to Apple removing thousands of servers and Amazon terminating a supplier in China.
APT attacks require greater resources, planning, and knowhow than most rogue hackers possess. As such they are more likely to be perpetrated by nation states—namely, the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Russia, or Iran. Of these, only the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has a key position in the production of information technology, enabling it to install physical and virtual backdoors. https://www.forbes.com/sites/roslynlayton/2021/03/17/hackers-are-targeting-us-banks-and-hardware-may-give-them-an-open-door/?sh=1bc625cd14dc
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12-21-20 Around 2013, U.S. intelligence began noticing an alarming pattern: Undercover CIA personnel, flying into countries in Africa and Europe for sensitive work, were being rapidly and successfully identified by Chinese intelligence, according to three former U.S. officials. The surveillance by Chinese operatives began in some cases as soon as the CIA officers had cleared passport control. Sometimes the surveillance was so overt that U.S. intelligence officials speculated that the Chinese wanted the U.S. side to know they had identified the CIA operatives, disrupting their missions; other times, however, it was much more subtle and only detected through U.S. spy agencies’ own sophisticated technical countersurveillance capabilities.
The CIA had been taking advantage of China’s own growing presence overseas to meet or recruit sources, according to one of these former officials. “We can’t get to them in Beijing, but can in Djibouti. Heat map Belt and Road”—China’s trillion-dollar infrastructure and influence initiative—“and you’d see our activity happening. It’s where the targets are.” The CIA recruits “Russians and Chinese hard in Africa,” said a former agency official. “And they know that.” China’s new aggressive moves to track U.S. operatives were likely a response to these U.S. efforts. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/21/china-stolen-us-data-exposed-cia-operatives-spy-networks/
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12-12-20 Today China has by far the largest spy network in the world. In fact, China has three separate intelligence units that belong to each of the Communist Party (CCP), the State, or the Military. They all have the same core task—to maintain Communist Party rule. Only recently have other nations begun to address concerns about Chinese covert intelligence gathering and surveillance activities, but in fact Chinese espionage activity has been going on for a considerable time.
It was Mao Zedong who championed the CCP’s three magic weapons: ideological discipline, the military, and underground activities. The CCP recognised early that it was essential to use intelligence and espionage in order to achieve its political agenda. Mao and other revolutionary leaders honed their asymmetric warfare skills during the Chinese civil war and then during the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) international isolation from 1949 to 1971. Mao also used the security agencies in his struggle for dominance within the CCP and then later turned against some of their most senior leaders.
One of these was Xi Zhongxun, father of the “princeling” Xi Jinping, now the most powerful CCP leader since the death of Mao, 44 years ago. During his reign since 2012, Xi Jinping has steadily placed his people at the top of all the core intelligence agencies, as well as the propaganda and thought work, known as “xitong”. Prior to Xi’s arrival, there had been considerable institutional and factional rivalry between the CCP spy agencies. Leadership structures were diffuse and key decisions were taken by consensus. Today, Xi’s position at the top of multiple intelligence-related xitong means that there is a higher level of coordination on covert activities. In short, the system has become more efficient and effective.
Of all the agencies under Xi, the one every country will experience is the CCP International Liaison Department (ILD) which is headed by a close associate of Xi, Song Tao. As a result, the ILD’s influence has greatly increased and it now has considerably more power that China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ILD has representatives in nearly every embassy around the world and is tasked with gathering intelligence. You may not necessarily be aware of the ILD, but you may have read about its front organisation, the China Association for International Understanding (CAIO).
CAIO’s methods are simple but effective. Primarily it nurtures relations with political parties and politicians, giving them access to the CCP leadership for political discussions. It also offers business opportunities and vanity projects in return for support of China’s policies, inside information or, at the very least, silence on critical issues. As a conduit for relationships, the CAIO has been a leading beneficiary of talent-scouting initiatives, such as Beijing’s “Thousand Talents Programme”, which has poured billions of dollars into drawing in tens of thousands of foreign specialists to China and which also sends thousands of PRC scientists overseas to access the latest civil and military-use technology and expertise. In this way, the PLA obtains foreign technology by developing international academic links, investing in foreign companies, espionage, hacking and elite capture. The return on this investment has been impressive, with China obtaining secrets on, for example, next-generation fighter aircraft, advanced missile systems and artificial intelligence.
Occasionally, a real-life example of CAIO’s undercover activity explodes in the media. This happened last week in an exclusive from Axios, an American news website, which revealed that its own undercover reporters had exposed a suspected Chinese intelligence operative who had developed extensive ties with local and national politicians, including a US congressman. The woman at the centre of the operation, a Chinese national named Fang Fang, targeted up-and-coming local politicians in the Bay Area in San Francisco, where nearly half a million Chinese Americans live. This is one of the largest and oldest of such communities in the US and therefore easy for a Chinese spy to melt into the background. Fang did exactly that, when in her early 20s she enrolled as a student at a Bay Area university. She became a student activist and following college Fang was able to get very close to political power through campaign fundraising, extensive networking, personal charisma, and romantic or sexual relationships.
Even though US officials say that they don’t believe Fang received or passed on classified information, a current senior US intelligence official admits that Fang’s case “was a big deal, because there were some really, really sensitive people who were caught up in the intelligence network”. Among the most significant targets of Fang’s efforts was Californian Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, for whom Fang took part in fundraising activities. Fang was also instrumental in placing at least one intern in Swalwell’s office and, according to witnesses, accompanied him at many events over the course of several years. US intelligence officials believe that she was also overseeing unwitting sub-agents whom she helped place in local political and congressional offices.
Fang’s activities were classic “honey trap”, although Axios is careful to report that there is no suggestion or evidence that the married Swalwell, one of the youngest Congressmen, had any sexual relations with her. Nevertheless, this case demonstrates China’s strategy of cultivating relationships that may take several years or even decades to bear fruit. The CAIO knows that today’s mayors and city council members are tomorrow’s governors and members of Congress. https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/world/how-china-spies
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12-3-20 China complains about the West blocking Huawei but the PRC has been doing the same since 1996 https://www.telecomtv.com/content/security/china-complains-about-the-west-blocking-huawei-but-the-prc-has-been-doing-the-same-since-1996-40378/
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10-28-20 The Justice Department in the United States has charged eight people with working on behalf of the Chinese government in a campaign aimed at coercing a Chinese family wanted by Beijing to return to China to face charges, according to court documents.
Five of the eight, including an American private investigator who was hired to spy on the family, were arrested on Wednesday in three US states. The remaining three are believed to be in China. The US does not have an extradition treaty with the country, but it does require anyone acting on behalf of a foreign power to register with US authorities.
All eight are charged with conspiring to act as illegal agents for a foreign government, and are accused of participating in a covert operation that officials say was built on intimidation, bullying and “very disturbing” tactics to pressure Chinese nationals living overseas and sought by Beijing to return home.
The alleged plot was known as “Operation Fox Hunt” and “Operation Skynet,” court records show. “What makes the case really stand out is that it directly involves the efforts of a foreign power to conduct unilateral activity here on US soil, in violation of our laws.” The harassment included affixing “a threatening note” to their door.
The note allegedly said: “If you are willing to go back to mainland and spend 10 years in prison, your wife and children will be all right. That’s the end of this matter!”, the Justice Department said in a press release. They also received threats on social media, as well as packages containing taped video threats. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/28/us-charges-8-with-targeting-chinese-dissidents-for-harassment
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9-30-20 WASHINGTON — After two decades of prioritizing counterterrorism, U.S. intelligence agencies are failing to sufficiently understand and counter the national security threat posed by China, the House Intelligence Committee concludes in a new report issued Wednesday.
The report, based on hundreds of hours of interviews with intelligence officers and thousands of analytic assessments, finds that the intelligence community must change how it does business — not only to improve its insights into China, but also to better address "the growing importance of interlocking non-military transnational threats, such as global health, economic security, and climate change."
The report recommends that spy agencies make better use of open source data, modernize hiring practices and reorient spending priorities. Although the committee's Democratic majority wrote the report, the full committee approved it Wednesday morning in a bipartisan voice vote.
"The United States' Intelligence Community has not sufficiently adapted to a changing geopolitical and technological environment increasingly shaped by a rising China," the report says. "Absent a significant realignment of resources, the U.S. government and intelligence community will fail to achieve the outcomes required to enable continued U.S. competition with China on the global stage for decades to come, and to protect the U.S. health and security."
In addition to critiquing U.S. spy agencies, the report offers a stark portrayal of China as a rogue nation that threatens global security, underscoring how dramatically the bipartisan foreign policy consensus about China has changed in the last decade.
"The People's Republic of China (PRC) has increasingly sought to revise the international order and global norms in a way that furthers its own strategic interests and undermines those of the United States specifically, and the West generally," the report says. "Militarily China has embarked on a massive modernization drive — creating a 'blue water' navy, investing heavily in hypersonic weapons, developing its own fifth-generation fighter, militarizing a series of atolls and islets in the South China Sea to strengthen its claims in the region, and building its first overseas military base in Djibouti."
Also disturbing, the report says, is China's use of technology to create "a post-modern authoritarian state in which the country's population is monitored around the clock through their phones and an ever-growing network of surveillance cameras equipped with facial-recognition technology. This 'digital authoritarianism' has not only been deployed at home, but has been increasingly marketed to aspiring authoritarians abroad."
In addition to critiquing U.S. spy agencies, the report offers a stark portrayal of China as a rogue nation that threatens global security, underscoring how dramatically the bipartisan foreign policy consensus about China has changed in the last decade.
On Wednesday the committee made public a 37-page report that included a number of redactions, and said it had also produced a classified document of more than 100 pages. The classified version is likely to have addressed a number of intelligence failings too sensitive to discuss publicly, including the severe damage done to CIA spying in China by a former CIA officer convicted of espionage, and a catastrophic failure in how the CIA communicated secretly with its foreign informants. Those incidents contributed to the loss of about 20 Chinese agents who were spying for the U.S., current and former officials have told NBC News.
Another issue bedeviling intelligence agencies — but omitted from the public version of the report — is the difficulty of spying in China because of the same technology the government uses to monitor its citizens: Biometric checks at the border, cell phone geolocation, closed-circuit video on the street and facial recognition technology.
The committee began reviewing the issue in May 2019, the report said, for two main reasons. "First, the Committee assessed that the IC's ability to fulfill emerging intelligence requirements regarding near-peer nation states had atrophied, in part because of the United States' long-standing focus on counterterrorism and Middle East regional issues," the report said. "Second, the Committee believes that China poses a unique and growing strategic challenge to U.S. national security."
The review resulted in 23 public findings on China and 36 public recommendations, in addition to more than 100 classified recommendations, the report says. The public report is filled with intelligence agency jargon that speaks to huge, intractable problems facing the spy agencies. For example: "The Intelligence Community is struggling to adapt to the increasing availability and commodification of data." And: "The compartmentation of intelligence limits decision-makers' ability to develop a common understanding of China's intent, actions, and likely future behavior."
Those two bland sentences sum up a massive challenge, and what some argue is the failure of intelligence agencies to keep pace with how private industry makes use of information, former officials say. In a world in which analysis of huge troves of open source data produces revelatory insights, intelligence agencies continue to prioritize the getting and keeping of secrets. And those secrets often remain in locked boxes, inaccessible to others in the government who might be able to make use of them if only they had access.
"Is collected intelligence converted to a digestible format in a timely fashion? Is raw intelligence reporting stored in accessible locations? Are intelligence community processing techniques on par, or superior, to comparable commercial capabilities?" the committee inquired, according to the report.
The answers to those questions are not included in the public version of the document. -K. Dilanian of NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-intel-agencies-failing-counter-threat-china-says-house-n1241417
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5–7-20 “This is the most extensive operation we have ever reported by a Chinese APT group,” the cyber researchers at Check Point told me, warning just how “targeted and sophisticated” this five-year campaign had been. Multiple overseas governments have been compromised by this threat group’s cyber weapons, and those government systems have been used to attack other countries.
The military espionage group’s tactics, described by Check Point as “very dangerous,” involved hijacking diplomatic communication channels to target specific computers in particular ministries. The malware-laced communications might be sent from an overseas embassy to ministries in its home country, or to government entities in its host country. “The group has introduced a new cyber weapon crafted to gather intelligence on a wide scale but also to follow intelligence officers directives to look for a specific filename on a specific machine.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2020/05/07/chinese-military-cyber-spies-just-caught-crossing-a-very-dangerous-new-line/?sh=348f0ff42ab3
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