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China HP Security

Eight of the World's Biggest Technology Service Providers Were Hacked by Chinese Cyber Spies in an Elaborate and Years-Long Invasion (reuters.com) 99

The invasion exploited weaknesses in those companies, their customers, and the Western system of technological defense, Reuters reported on Wednesday. From the report: Hacked by suspected Chinese cyber spies five times from 2014 to 2017, security staff at Swedish telecoms equipment giant Ericsson had taken to naming their response efforts after different types of wine. Pinot Noir began in September 2016. After successfully repelling a wave of attacks a year earlier, Ericsson discovered the intruders were back. And this time, the company's cybersecurity team could see exactly how they got in: through a connection to information-technology services supplier Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Teams of hackers connected to the Chinese Ministry of State Security had penetrated HPE's cloud computing service and used it as a launchpad to attack customers, plundering reams of corporate and government secrets for years in what U.S. prosecutors say was an effort to boost Chinese economic interests.

The hacking campaign, known as "Cloud Hopper," was the subject of a U.S. indictment in December that accused two Chinese nationals of identity theft and fraud. Prosecutors described an elaborate operation that victimized multiple Western companies but stopped short of naming them. A Reuters report at the time identified two: Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM. Yet the campaign ensnared at least six more major technology firms, touching five of the world's 10 biggest tech service providers. Also compromised by Cloud Hopper, Reuters has found: Fujitsu, Tata Consultancy Services, NTT Data, Dimension Data, Computer Sciences Corporation and DXC Technology. HPE spun-off its services arm in a merger with Computer Sciences Corporation in 2017 to create DXC.

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Eight of the World's Biggest Technology Service Providers Were Hacked by Chinese Cyber Spies in an Elaborate and Years-Long Inva

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  • Does this mean Apple, Google and Microsoft are safe on this one?

    • Does this mean Apple, Google and Microsoft are safe on this one?

      Google perhaps, Apple and Microsoft get blamed for everything here including herpes and the common cold.

  • We were always at war with Eastasia
  • Who would have thought that a fascist state that harvests convicts for organs instead of having a robust appeals system would ever act dishonestly?

    I'm stunned.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Who would have thought that a fascist state that harvests "Dissenters and religious peasants" for organs instead of having a robust "trial" system would ever act dishonestly

      ftfy

    • Who would have thought that a fascist state that harvests convicts for organs instead of having a robust appeals system would ever act dishonestly?

      I'm stunned.

      You calling China Fascist is about as dumb as Ben Shapiro calling Andrew Neil a 'leftist' out to make a buck at Shapiro's expense on the BBC.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Who would have thought that a fascist state that harvests convicts for organs instead of having a robust appeals system would ever act dishonestly?

        I'm stunned.

        You calling China Fascist is about as dumb as Ben Shapiro calling Andrew Neil a 'leftist' out to make a buck at Shapiro's expense on the BBC.

        So what's not fascist [wikipedia.org] about China:

        dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy

        Or are you intellectually limited to a simplistic, one-dimensional left/right description of the combined worlds of politics and economics, and therefore "left wing Communists" can't be "fascist"?

        • So what's not fascist [wikipedia.org] about China:

          dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy

          Acutally it says:

          Fascism (/fæzm/) is a form of radical right-wing, authoritarian ultranationalism[1][2] characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy[3] which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe

          ... oh you zen master of cherrypicking.

      • by fortythirteen ( 5606969 ) on Wednesday June 26, 2019 @11:01AM (#58828574)
        What is a Fascist state? By strict definition, an authoritarian government that controls its capitalist industry. By looser definition, an ethno-nationalist, authoritarian state.

        When China moved from pure communism to a market economy, inserting communist party brass in companies, and kept all their government's authoritarianism, they fulfilled the bounds of the strict definition. When they started throwing Uyghurs in reeducation camps to indoctrinate them in Han culture (or worse), the fulfilled the looser definition.

        China is the most successful fascist government the world has ever seen.
        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Freischutz ( 4776131 )

          What is a Fascist state? By strict definition, an authoritarian government that controls its capitalist industry. By looser definition, an ethno-nationalist, authoritarian state. When China moved from pure communism to a market economy, inserting communist party brass in companies, and kept all their government's authoritarianism, they fulfilled the bounds of the strict definition. When they started throwing Uyghurs in reeducation camps to indoctrinate them in Han culture (or worse), the fulfilled the looser definition. China is the most successful fascist government the world has ever seen.

          Fascism (/fæzm/) is a form of radical right-wing, authoritarian ultranationalism[1][2] characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy[3] which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

          The Chinese are Authoritarian, they are nationalistic, they are dictatorial, they suppress opposition and they strongly regiment society and the economy but they are not right-wing

          • Right wing on what metric? The Germans weren't laissez-faire. You can find papers from Goebbels about the superiority of socialism.
            • Right wing on what metric? The Germans weren't laissez-faire. You can find papers from Goebbels about the superiority of socialism.

              By what metric is Fascism obviously left wing? And please link to some of those papers Göbbels wrote about the superiority of socialism. I'm fluent in German and I can read Nazi Fraktur script even if it is an intensely unpleasant experience.

              • You're attempting to dodge the obvious point, that Nazis weren't economically decidedly right wing (and, with a market economy, China isn't decidedly left wing).

                By what metric is Fascism obviously left wing?

                Strawman. I haven't argued that Fascism is bound by a two dimensional "wing".

                • You're attempting to dodge the obvious point, that Nazis weren't economically decidedly right wing (and, with a market economy, China isn't decidedly left wing).

                  By what metric is Fascism obviously left wing?

                  Strawman. I haven't argued that Fascism is bound by a two dimensional "wing".

                  Weill if you have an N dimensional definition of the political spectrum where N is greater than 2 please outline it for us so we don't have to guess at it. In the mean time here is the traditional case for the difference between left and right. You are judging left and right according to what is real in the N-American cultural bubble. You people consider the Clintons and Obama to be left wing. Some of the pundits on Fox News actually seem to consider them borderline communists. In the world outside of the N

          • The Chinese are Authoritarian, they are nationalistic, they are dictatorial, they suppress opposition and they strongly regiment society and the economy but they are not right-wing

            Chinese are more right wing than Americans [sciencenordic.com]

      • Who would have thought that a fascist state that harvests convicts for organs instead of having a robust appeals system would ever act dishonestly?

        I'm stunned.

        You calling China Fascist is about as dumb as Ben Shapiro calling Andrew Neil a 'leftist' out to make a buck at Shapiro's expense on the BBC.

        An autocratic government working in concert with business is the classic definition of fascism.

    • by hey! ( 33014 ) on Wednesday June 26, 2019 @12:43PM (#58829294) Homepage Journal

      The Chinese regime is bad, but it is not accurate to call it "fascist". All fascist regimes are bad regimes, but not all bad regimes are fascist. Technically, China is best described as a "Post-Totalitarian Authoritarian State".

      The key elements of fascism are romanticism, xenophobia, scapegoating and paranoia. Followers of the fascist state are encouraged to see themselves as heroic victims, fighting against enemies who are weak and inferior yet paradoxically threatening. It doesn't make sense -- by the logic of the head. It is dangerously appealing to the heart.

    • by BringsApples ( 3418089 ) on Wednesday June 26, 2019 @03:14PM (#58830310)

      I just wanted to thank you for correctly using the phrase "Who would have thought..." rather than, "Who would of thought..." Hopefully others will catch on.

  • I welcome the onshoring wave all these violations of trust from consulting and outsourcing groups overseas or domestic with heavily overseas leveraged services.

    If we're really lucky some compliance and security standards / audits will auto-fail line items for having certain jobs and duties outsourced or overseas.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      Why would that happen? Offshoring is great for short-term results, and the negative consequences will come much later after the managers responsible move on to a different position. All the incentives line up exactly the wrong way for the problem to ever be solved by itself.

      Standards and regulations won't fix it either. Companies will create contracts stipulating that the outsourcing companies must comply with all applicable laws, the outsourcers will lie their asses off and say "sure we can do that", and t

  • They are putting profits before security.
  • by mssymrvn ( 15684 ) on Wednesday June 26, 2019 @10:51AM (#58828518)

    Hello, I know your password is HP12345

    You got infected with my malware, RAT (Remote Administration Tool), while browsing the web where my iframe was placed.

    -----
    How many of these are in the employees' inboxes now?

  • by DigitAl56K ( 805623 ) on Wednesday June 26, 2019 @11:10AM (#58828654)

    ... that major companies insist we spend tens of thousands of dollars to license Fortify from, to prevent this kind of thing?

  • Try "are still being hacked"

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Don't host your business in the cloud. it's not a matter if you get hacked, it's a matter of when.

    The IP stack, both IPv4 and IPv6 is full of security holes. Once in there are many flaws besides Spectre and Meltdown to exploit.

  • by Anonymous Coward
    Do we have to save corporate face even here?

    These consulting companies charge *vast piles of cash* to protect against this very risk.

    Then fucked it up.

    Then actively concealed it from those very customers.
    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      This is the truth of it.

      HP decided they wanted to go into the Chinese market, and they partnered with the Chinese government to do so.

      To play "gee whiz we didn't know" at this point is completely dishonest.

      Boycott both China and the companies that support them.

  • I spy you spy we all spy, while eating ice-cream. I'm sure the CIA etc. is all up in China's stuff.

  • Good luck ever being very secure in "The Cloud". It's designed to make remote entry easy, and since you don't have any control over your data over there, it's always a huge target that you'll never know was hit.

  • by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Wednesday June 26, 2019 @03:34PM (#58830458)

    From the article ...

    The secrecy was not unique to HPE. Even when the government alerted technology service providers, the companies would not always pass on warnings to clients, Jeanette Manfra, a senior cybersecurity official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, told Reuters.

    “We asked them to notify their customers,” Manfra said. “We can’t force their hand.”
    =======
    WTF? Where is Congress? Two possible solutions:
    1. If HPE is provided evidence by DHS they've been hacked then HPE should be required by law to pass that information along to its customers
    2. DHS makes an announcement that HPE has been hacked.

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