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Tech Companies Worried Over China's New Rules For Selling To Banks
An anonymous reader writes: China is putting into place a new set of regulations for how banks interact with technology, and it has many companies worried. While the rules might enhance security for the Chinese government, they devastate it for everyone else. For example, not only will China require that companies turn over source code for any software sold to banks, the companies building the software (and hardware) must also build back doors into their systems. The bad news for us is that most companies can't afford to simply refuse the rules and write China off. Tech industry spending is estimated to reach $465 billion in 2015, and it's projected for a huge amount of growth.
Those Chinese banks are going to be the target of a huge amount of hacking. It's like an invitation. We've built a way for you to take over our system. Please try and find it.
No additional development is required, just reuse the code that was written for NSA backdoors.
US banks say "there is no backdoor" while waving their Jedi arms over our heads.
This is what you get for spying on each and everybody and infiltrating everything. So now they distrust everybody and (rightfully) are asking for the source.
The result will be that they then will have the source and will do their own improvement and not coming back for more. This basically means that they can do one more deal by selling the software and then they will start selling the software themselves (including the backdoors)
So the wise thing would be NOT to sell anything. However if just one company will sell, they are all lost.
I am not even worried about the backdoor, because that was in there already.
The next will be that they ask the source code for other software as well (Microsoft anybody?)
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Refuse and have the rest of us as your costumers.
Just tell me whom to trust and whom to not.
They want the source code and backdoors written in? Why not write your own backdoors?
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Sorry, but am I meant to believe the US government doesn't also insist on backdoors?
Because they pretty blatantly want backdoors in crypto and everything else.
So let's not pretend it's just China doing this ... every damned government is insisting on this crap.
And, really:
Boo frickin' hoo. You think China gives a crap about a stern letter from the US Chamber of Commerce? Or that they care if you have access to their markets?
Other than that's the only way they can keep expanding indefinitely, what makes corporations feel like they're entitled to be in any market?
I'm betting a bunch of the companies involved in this collective hand-wringing are already enabling the US government to have access through other backdoors -- so don't pretend it's even more terrible when China does it.
If America is so concerned about backdoors and exploits in Chinese made products ... make 'em yourselves.
American companies need to stop acting like they can tell countries where they do business what they're willing to do. Suck it up, you want access to the market you play by the rules. Just like they would have to do to do business in the US.
I hear this crap and I just hear "Waaah, how are we to make a profit if you impose rules on us, woe is us, how will be maximize executive bonuses if there are rules?"
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
doing business with the PRC is a One-Way street, they'll absorb your technology, your techniques and your skills and will saturate your markets to kill off your own industries. We're in a war folks, it's time people woke up to that fact and stopped treating the Chinese Government as friendly.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
China can ask for the source, but I don't see any US firm agreeing. They certainly wouldn't care about China-only builds having back-doors; that I'm sure they'd agree to. But giving up the source? No way. If they do that, they know that the code will quickly be incorporated into products from Chinese companies and their sales will drop soon afterwards as the thieves sell their own versions for far less.
Backdoors are there for everyone that finds them, not just those who requested them, i see major bank system hacks in the next few years.
OSS stuff like Linux and xBSD is already out there, and they can build their own back doors. Microsoft already gives companies and governments access to the source code for its products. I guess the mainframe providers (IBM, Fujitsu, etc.) are the only ones left that this would affect. That, and the network device manufacturers...I could definitely see Huawei getting a boost by being the only network device manufacturer allowed to sell to Chinese banks.
I guess the question is why -- every country on earth spies on every other country and its own citizens. So, it's probably being done to boost domestic companies. One of the things that's really going to make China come out on top this century is their ability to do stuff like this...it's one of their greatest strengths. If they decide they want to do something, it's done with zero debate. Their big overarching project right now is a massive urbanization project -- just picking up millions of rural peasants and physically moving them to cities. Can you imagine the US or a European country trying something like that? It would never work, look how much people complain when a local government uses eminent domain to build a road or public works project.
The summary is right though - companies can't ignore China. There are billions of people and a huge growing middle class, all with the full will of their government pushing through whatever is needed. There are always possible bumps in the road, but I'm assuming China will be the dominant superpower in a couple of decades just because they can make stuff happen that we can't/won't.
Write different software for China and suggest to the rest of the world that they never use the Chinese version of the software.
Problem solved.
Be seeing you...
Then if said company is selling to western banks, these should be avoided.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Libraries and library systems are a major, long-term target of the security services and politicians. Those guys want to know if you read "Steal This Book", or in an older age, "Lady Chatterly's Lover", so they can blackmail you. The library community soon learned that it was smart to meet the most stringent privacy standards set by law. After all, you also can't afford to cheese off Germany and the EU and get tossed out of their market.
Countries who would prefer to have back-doors have a hard time making a case for them, as they don't want be seen publicly trying to convince a company to break a good law.
The same logic applied to all software: China has just encouraged all countries to demand open or at least auditable source, and builds that can be proven to be from those sources, so customers can be sure that the backdoors aren't in.
Smart customers will insists on open source, so they can check themselves.
davecb@spamcop.net
The problem is Wall Street, which doesn't care whether a company is put out of business by Chinese competition next year if it makes a good profit this quarter.