1-2-19 In a powerful challenge to the dominance of the United States, China has launched its BeiDou satellite navigation system (bds) with global coverage…. “The U.S. could deny users access over certain areas, for example, in times of conflict,” Alexandra Stickings of the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies said.
This new “Space Silk Road” has progressed rapidly. The rate at which China has produced this technology reveals the ambition and technical prowess of China. Global coverage of BeiDou was reached two years ahead of schedule.
To achieve this, satellites have been launched at a frequency that is unprecedented in China’s space history. Since Nov. 5, 2017, 19 bds-3 satellites have been launched, with as little as 17 days between some launches, setting “a new record in the history of the development of the world satellite navigation systems.”
BeiDou has already shipped over 70 million systems to more than 90 countries. These systems include microchips and modules, which could give China easier access than ever to infiltrating computer systems. China has proved over and again that it has no qualms in using technology such as this to hack, spy and perform cyber-espionage.
The navigational satellites also play an important military role. BeiDou has become a vital part of President Xi Jinping’s strategy to develop a smarter military. BeiDou will serve several purposes, including use in reconnaissance exercises and as a short messaging platform--something gps has not developed. It will give the military greater accuracy and holds the potential to “deny or degrade the signal received by other users of the system,” according to Stickings.
BeiDou satellites in the event of a conflict will enable the Chinese military to identify, track and strike U.S. ships, increasing their tracking ability by 100 to 1,000 times. Navigation satellites make it possible for rockets to strike accurately enough to directly hit and potentially destroy deeply buried and hardened missile bunkers, as well as being vital to precision-guided missiles, smart bombs, navigation and operation of ships, other vehicles and troops.
The stakes of space control are extremely high. “[H]e who controls the open space around us is in a position to control the Earth,” German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun said.
Historically America’s overwhelming space capabilities have given it the edge in war. But this no longer holds true. Other nations are quickly catching up!
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To understand China's espionage goals, U.S. officials say, just look at the ambitious aims the country set out in the plan "Made in China 2025." By that date China wants to be a world leader in artificial intelligence, computing power, military technology, as well as energy and transportation systems. And that's just a partial list….
More than 300,000 Chinese students study at U.S. universities — about a third of all foreign students and far more than any other country. Many are in cutting-edge fields like artificial intelligence, or AI, notes David Edelman, who heads a project at MIT that looks at the intersection of technology, the economy and national security. https://www.npr.org/2018/12/28/677414459/in-chinas-push-for-high-tech-hackers-target-cutting-edge-u-s-firms
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12-21-18 The Chinese have this hacking institution that is so huge. What makes it effective are a couple of things. Number one, it’s much larger than the Russians. Number two, it’s tied to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Even though a lot of the hacking is focused on commercial information, the people who are running this are the military. Here’s the scary part, the hacking is occurring in this country as well as in China. A great many Chinese immigrants are working in many of these industries and are scooping up this information and sending it home….
We are already starting to see the manifestation of this hacking in the weapons they are deploying as we speak to include their cruise missiles and their drones.
Also, if you look at their latest family of stealth aircraft, the J-20, it has a lot of the obvious characteristics with our F-22 and our F-35. They are so far advanced in their sophisticated hacking that they are already beginning to build military products and weapons to compete against us using our technology. …
The second thing I’d do is take a long hard look at Chinese students in our universities and those that are hired from China to work in our corporate structure. When I was in the army I visited China in 2000. I remember a Chinese general bragging to me that there were more PLA officers in American graduate schools than there were American officers in American graduate schools. I don’t think it has gotten any better in the last few years.
The other thing is for the Chinese students and employees in this country. What the Chinese government does very skillfully is they hold their relatives, their wives, children, parents and grandparents at risk if they don’t toe the line and comply with instructions from China.
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12-31-18 For 2018 Verizon reported that there have been 2,216 confirmed data breaches across 65 countries. Even more disturbing, perhaps, is that 68% of those breaches took months for the breached companies to discover. If that’s not disturbing enough, 28% of those incidents were perpetuated by insiders. More than half of those breaches by outsiders were done by members of organized crime.
According to the report, cybercrime touched nearly every sector throughout 2018, including those that may seem less obvious, like education or manufacturing — and for one obvious reason: the money. https://www.pymnts.com/news/security-and-risk/2018/data-breach-user-account-card-retail-hack/
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11-3-18 The Weekend Australian has confirmed from a national security source that the intelligence highlighted the Chinese company’s role in cyber espionage. Huawei has been banned from any involvement in building the new 5G network in Australia because of security fears but Chinese officials have urged the government to rethink the decision.
The new information has emerged ahead of the first Australian ministerial visit to China in a year. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham is due to go to Shanghai next week, and a meeting between Scott Morrison and President Xi Jinping is expected at the APEC leaders’ meeting over the next two weeks amid hopes of resetting the strained relationship.
In what is the first known instance of Huawei being used by the Chinese government as a conduit for intelligence gathering, the national security source said an unnamed “high-risk vendor’’ — confirmed by The Weekend Australian to be Huawei — had featured in intelligence reporting….It is understood company officials were pressed upon to provide password and network details that would enable Chinese intelligence services to gain access….
One key criterion was whether the company operated in a jurisdiction where corporations could be compelled to provide information to intelligence services. Late last year China passed its National Intelligence Law, which obliged citizens and organisations to co-operate with and collaborate with China’s intelligence services if required.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute cyber expert Dannielle Cave said the rule placed Chinese corporations such as Huawei in an impossible situation.
“Huawei is a good company that provides good, cost-effective equipment around the world but this law makes it very difficult for Australia to involve Chinese companies in critical national infrastructure,’’ Ms. Cave said. “A lot of this goes straight back to that law. It is out of the company’s hands.’’
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8-21-18
SINGAPORE -- Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was seething when information on 1.5 million patients was stolen from the city-state's largest public health care provider. "I am personally affected, and not just incidentally," Lee wrote on his Facebook page. "The attackers targeted my own medication data, specifically and repeatedly."
Without naming names Singapore's government said state actors were behind the attack that saw thieves take information such as names, identification numbers and outpatient prescription details. Experts are pointing fingers at China. "It certainly fits with a pattern of Chinese Communist Party cyberactivity," said Fergus Hanson, head of the Cyber Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Beijing, he noted, has been accused of other major health care hacks in the U.S.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Singapore is not the only place to be hit.
The hack was a major setback for the island nation, which has been touting a Smart Nation project to maximize the use of technology across the island. While it threatened to undermine confidence in connected trade, finance and transportation systems, the government also won plaudits for its swift detection and reaction to the attack….
Studies on the costs of the threat have produced some eye-opening numbers. Each year computer security breaches cost the global economy about $600 billion, according to Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies. Other research, by Microsoft Asia and Frost & Sullivan, shows direct and indirect economic losses in the Asia-Pacific region came to $1.74 trillion in 2017. That is equivalent to 7% of the region's gross domestic product….
"We expect espionage activity against Malaysian organizations will increase in an attempt to gain insight into current events," said Sandra Joyce, head of global intelligence operations for FireEye….FireEye said in a news release that Belt and Road will be a "driver" of online threats as various players, including Chinese hacker groups, seek to gain an "information advantage and collect business intelligence on individual projects and agreements.”…
Singapore is using its chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year to further its cross-regional cybersecurity initiative -- in what Joyce said was a "real laudable effort." The bloc is boosting cybersecurity ties with Australia, and a Japan-ASEAN cybersecurity training center is opening in Bangkok.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Asia-Insight/Suspected-China-cyberhack-on-Singapore-is-a-wake-up-call-for-Asia
sunset photos of 1-3-2019 near Mt. Shasta
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