Black Duck Eggs and Other Secrets of Chinese Hacks 220
Roberto123 writes "Network World offers some insights into the way China infiltrates US organizations, physically and via computer, to steal information. Security expert Ira Winkler says there are far more serious threats out there than the 'laughable' uproar over China's hack of Google."
Hmmm ... (Score:3, Informative)
this was in his book (Score:2, Informative)
Re:the lede (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The article draws weird conclusions. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Hmmm ... (Score:4, Informative)
I find his statement that he can't get black duck eggs in San Francisco, which has one of the largest Chinese populations outside of Asia, hard to believe. I can get black duck eggs [emeraldrestaurant.com] here in San Diego, which is a bit of a cultural backwater compared to the Bay Area.
Re:Hmmm ... (Score:3, Informative)
Definitely fishy about that menu... IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE FOR A CHINESE RESTAURANT! For $10, (in ANY English-speaking country's currency) that fried rice better be some top-of-the-line rice with corn-fed organic egg cooked to golden perfection!
Seriously though, this article is interesting in 2 ways. 1st, "black duck eggs" may be a delicacy, but it's not that rare nor it is expensive. The only way that it's not in the SF area would be that it doesn't comply with the food safety code, like a lot of Chinese food. (Just because white folks can't stomach our food doesn't mean it's poisonous.)
2nd, I actually talked to a guy who enrolled in a Chinese university for their "spy" recruit. He was there for a year before getting an offer to come study overseas. Sometimes we still wonder if he's still working for their government... Anyway, he was saying how all the guys were really plain-looking, and the girls are hot as hell, and very seductive at that too. SO, what you should be looking out for at your work place are: plain-looking Chinese dudes and hot Chinese girls!
Chinese espionage is not innocuous (Score:5, Informative)
The author didn't state it elegantly, but he still made the point -- Chinese industrial espionage is very real, is here now, and it is state-sponsored. China views hacking not only as a fast-track to becoming an industrial superpower, but they view it as a method of becoming a military superpower, too. A good part of China's military buildup involves locating and training talented young people, as well as hiring the already established hacker-underground folk for military purposes. They figure (probably correctly) that they are nowhere near capable of competing with the US military on a technological front, but if they can shut down our command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) networks (not coincidentally, this is also why they developed the satellite-killing missile), then they have essentially shut us down, especially for any military response to an attack on Taiwan.
Here are just a few examples of the many, many already known about cases of Chinese espionage.
- The infamous Cox Report [house.gov] (regarding the PRC stealing our most advanced nuclear weapon designs)
- The well-known Google attacks [nytimes.com]
- A Boeing engineer was sentenced to 15 years for espionage, selling rocket technology [latimes.com] to the PRC
- The FBI caught an American with very high security clearance and a Taiwanese-American selling classified information [cbsnews.com] about weapon-sales to Taiwan to the PRC.
- The British MI5 released a report detailing all kinds of Chinese espionage [timesonline.co.uk]. For example, high-profile UK businessmen have been approached by PRC spies with lavish gifts which include USB flash drives infected with trojans to steal information, and in 2008, an aide to Gordon Brown had his Blackberry stolen after a sexy Chinese woman approached him in Beijing -- a classic, almost too classic to be true, Soviet-style tactic. Other diplomats, too, have been sexually blackmailed by the PRC to divulge information.
- Here is a research paper by Northrop Grumman [uscc.gov] regarding China's cyber-warfare abilities, 88 pages filled with the stuff. Turn to page 67 for a "Timeline of Significant Chinese Related Cyber Events 1999-Present," let alone the details of the rest of the paper which shows the large effort by the PRC to improve their cyber-warfare and espionage abilities.
Here are some more excerpts:
MI5 Report [nytimes.com]
The MI5 report described how China’s computer hacking campaign had attacked British defense, energy, communications and manufacturing companies, as well as public relations companies and international law firms. The document explicitly warned British executives dealing with China against so-called honey trap methods in which it said the Chinese tried to cultivate personal relationships, “often using lavish hospitality and flattery,” either within China or abroad.
“Chinese intelligence services have also been known to exploit vulnerabilities such as sexual relationships and illegal activities to pressurize individuals to cooperate with them,” it warned. “Hotel rooms in major Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai which have been frequented by foreigners are likely to be bugged. Hotel rooms have been searched while the occupants are out of the room.”
Re:I gotta agree. (Score:4, Informative)
You're a China hater. You might be right about family being important in Chinese culture, but it's not worship, by any means. You make us sound like non-humans. I have to try not to get angry at your war mentality, but instead put forth my understanding.
Family is a different concept in Chinese culture, it works like this: In Western culture, Mother may say one thing, and Grandmother may say another thing, but ultimately Mother gets her say.
In traditional Chinese culture, and I put a strong emphasis on traditional, Grandmother may say one thing, and Mother will go along with it. After all, she's older. Please bear in mind that with the new urbanization in China, this style is shifting as the fast-paced change in urban society makes it harder for older people to remain saavy their entire lives.
So, we Chinese are people too. Please be nice.
Re:No, there's a lot of this and it's real (Score:3, Informative)