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Richard Clarke: All Major U.S. Firms Hacked By China
bdking writes "Former White House cybersecurity advisor Richard Clarke says state-sanctioned Chinese hackers are stealing R&D from U.S. companies, threatening the long-term competitiveness of the nation. He said, 'The U.S. government is involved in espionage against other governments. There’s a big difference, however, between the kind of cyberespionage the United States government does and China. The U.S. government doesn’t hack its way into Airbus and give Airbus the secrets to Boeing [many believe that Chinese hackers gave Boeing secrets to Airbus]. We don’t hack our way into a Chinese computer company like Huawei and provide the secrets of Huawei technology to their American competitor Cisco. [He believes Microsoft, too, was a victim of a Chinese cyber con game.] We don’t do that. ... We hack our way into foreign governments and collect the information off their networks. The same kind of information a CIA agent in the old days would try to buy from a spy. ... Diplomatic, military stuff but not commercial competitor stuff.'"
Yeah, we just overthrow governments and set up their elected officials to take the blame: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat
There is one documented instance where the CIA 'spied on airbus.'
The CIA actually was spying on Saudi Arabia. What they found was that Airbus was bribing saudi arabia to get a big contract. So the NSA spilled the beans, the corruption was rooted out, and Boeing ended up getting the contract.
Do you call that industrial espionage?
I should also note that in the US, it is illegal to bribe foreign governments. This law is enforced, and executives have gone to jail for it...
I don't doubt that a lot of cyber-spying is going on, but also note that Clarke is now CEO of Good Harbor Consulting, which coincidentally makes a boatload of money dong Cyber consulting. The more frenzy he whips up, the more money he rakes in.
The accountants have a point.
Sales make money. You cost money.
Which would you maximize and which would you minimize? A cost center or a profit center? That is business 101.
I always advice IT people to work in a technology company. Otherwise you will always be undervalued and underpaid. Same is true if you are a financial wizard. You can make a good upper middle class salary at a regular company. However, working at a bank you will be a multi millionaire instead with that background because you add value and contribution to your company MUCH more.
In the past we were once valued as profit centers and assets as great productivity gains were realized switching to computers then desktops, then spreadsheets, email, and so on and so on. Today, a nerd is not someone who can turn on a PC and use a formula in a spreadsheet. Everyone can do this. Therefore, we do not offer anything of important value except when something blows up.
Anyway the risk is well worth the effort of massively increased sales and low cost labor. As long as the share price goes up and the CFO and CEO can get their bonuses from the cost savings and profit center increases then all is good even if it does get hacked.
http://saveie6.com/