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Chinese Compiling "Facebook" of US Government Employees
schwit1 writes: According to private security firm CrowdStrike's founder, Dmitri Alperovitch, the Chinese are compiling a massive 'Facebook' like database on American federal government employees for use in espionage and blackmail. The data was stolen from high profile attacks against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, as well as intrusions into the Anthem and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield health insurance networks. "That can now be used to embarrass you publicly and force you to work for the Chinese government," Alperovitch says. "It's, in effect, a private version of Facebook with much more detail about your life than even Facebook has that the Chinese now have access to."
As opposed to a regular database...
Facebook proves embarrassment will fail.
Why don't they just use actual Facebook for this? Lots of people have been publicly shamed through Facebook, to the point of losing their careers, their marriages, or even committing suicide.
They're using the pre-2004, non-proper-noun sense of "facebook".
I'm already embarrassed working for the US government.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
I'm surprised how this is actually news, every government keeps dossiers on foreign government officials in a database. There have been reports of nefarious web crawling data collecting networks for years, many tracked back to government owned networks. Do you think the personal data the FBI gets from prosecuting hackers is actually thrown away, no they add it to their database.
Just because the government knows you cheated on your wife (because it came up in your background clearance check) does not mean that your wife knows. This is leverage.
There is nothing in what the Chinese have stolen that isn't already known by the government and hence has no blackmail value. The first time they try to blackmail someone with that information the person attempting to do it will be arrested on the second contact.
Christ, they could get more detailed personal information from the actual facebook than what they stole. It's hidden stuff like Ashley Madison that could cause someone to be susceptible to blackmail, not publicly known information from a government database. Even confidential medical records aren't going to be a thing you could get reliable actionable intelligence or blackmail material from.
The article summary is fucking stupid.
Truth is that up-to-date, accurate and detailed, organizational structure of army or other organization that participates in national defense is a prized reference tool useful both in peace and in a war time. Many of the organizations take extra precautions to distort, obfuscate real org chart and to hide key areas, such as communications/network, nuclear etc.
If enough time and efforts are invested all the org charts can be recreated, however in reality, due to the resource limitations only generals and top-lieutenants are in a typical org tree. Chinese made their own life easier since they have now a significant details and granularity of the information. Be sure that selected individuals will be targeted for intelligence and recruitment operations.
America has tolerated too many belligerent cyberattacks from China and Russia. It is time to draw on the computing talent in this country to create a counterinsurgency against these agents and to deal with them straight-on. Enough.
Its not "staggering" given the access demands needed to find and upgrade contractors and skill sets needed for US global mil operations.
"Top secret " details placed in a simple, readable, network facing database in plain text.... ?
Great for finding needed no bid contractors via a cloud..
Any other US mil or gov sector would have kept its own data secure, encrypted and not on the public facing 'net'
Why was this done, when was it done and what was allowed to drift out in plain text?
Plain text letters of commendation listing secure project names in English on an open network?
What has the US really lost? Lists from staff from what wars and over what decade of contractors?
The US has entire new services with total domestic support to stop foreign intelligence operations and espionage.
Too many new services that got created over the past decade to totally replace the decades of experts that had kept all this data totally secure in the past?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
In Naruto, they call it a Bingo Book.
"According to private security firm CrowdStrike's founder, Dmitri Alperovitch, the Chinese are compiling a massive 'Facebook' like database on American federal government employees"
Just because the government knows you cheated on your wife (because it came up in your background clearance check) does not mean that your wife knows. This is leverage.
Considering the divorce rate, not very good leverage
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Thus it would seem that you now owe your fascist masters an apology... and their pocket change back.
Imbecile.
That would depend entirely on the effectiveness of the prenup...
Re "embarrassing personal information is already known by the government, because you already told them." ... a complex NSB honey pot just waiting for any domestic approaches as all the names are bait?
Its not the classic negative human traits that all skilled foreign intelligence operations and espionage hope to uncover.
The US and UK now offer their staff better wages and living conditions to stop just that kind of easy temptation by all foreign intelligence operations.
The negative worked well in the 1920-60's when US/UK mil/gov wages where low and any extra cash would help a lot on average as a gift.
With digital networks any extra spending by US gov staff or 5 eye helpers is tracked, all new lifestyle changes reported and looked into. That new car, holiday, spending does not go undetected.
Foreign intelligence services never want the "embarrassing" side of staff who are just staying in gov or the mil and at a set wage or position thanks to past security work or their private sector brand as part of a larger project. People like that are stuck doing work given to them for decades. The entire project might be busy work. Not much use to any skilled foreign operation deep within the USA of they never advance and can not be trusted. The real magic is getting deep into policy formation over decades. That needs access to the best of the best from entry, up the ranks to the top. Russia has that method perfected and the US has no understanding of who to trust based on testing or long term productivity. Passive collection over decades is very hard to detect as Russia does no act classically on the information collected as it did in the past.
China just floods the West with university students and learns next to the US and UK's best university students. What they learn China understands for the low price of years of collage tuition. As smart as any western crypto, math, computer, engineer entering the US or UK mil or gov service with the same skills.
Other nations spies have moved way beyond even caring about "embarrassing personal information" from gov or mil staff who may or may not have anything useful to sell or just be bait and traps.
An easy to find US database thats in plain text, on the net... or
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
...Facebook compiles you!
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Vote for Bernie in 2016!
Ok, so they've got this super secret info from a government employee database and some medical records, maybe? And? How is this supposed to be something to worry about as far as national security threats go? The info was in an HR database, so the government already knows about that info, and with the possible exception of STDs and maybe psychiatrists what on earth could be used in the medical records to blackmail anyone? On top of that, it's only federal government employees, and only a subset of those. So how does that affect the 100 million or so other non-federal employees that could take the place of anyone in the federal government position that's been compromised? The whole thing is simply FUD for PR purposes and the idiots that wrote the article and approved the summary are the only ones being duped into doing something they shouldn't.
After scrolling past ads for Chinese testosterone, Chinese intelligence booster pills and a database of sex offenders living in by basement, I finally made it to the "meat" of the advertisements, errrr, story - An ad suggesting that I join Facebook.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
Well given that about 70% of Americans (men and women) have cheated on their partners, and the number of people that have actually committed treason against the United States is a much smaller percentage (far less than 1%), I'd say that your claim that cheating on your partner implies a willingness to be disloyal to your country is about as false as any claim can be.
That's like saying being a non-virgin implies that you are willing to be a rapist. The facts simply do not support these claims.
Just because the government knows you cheated on your wife (because it came up in your background clearance check) does not mean that your wife knows. This is leverage.
I used work at such a place. If it came up during a background check that you were having an affair, they would call both you and your wife into the security office and tell the person with the clearance, "you tell them or we will". They cared less about what you did and more for if you could be blackmailed for it.
How about how many votes the xenophobic US presidential candidates get?
That would depend entirely on the effectiveness of the prenup...
If you are working as a GS-9 in some government bureaucracy, you don't have enough assets to bother with a prenup.
I think that the only dubious part of the claim is calling Facebook like. States have been collecting information about the people involved with other states for as long as there have been states. It's only recently that they've been able to greatly expand the number of people included and the amount of information contained.
In San Francisco it doesn't matter. They've already sold out.
TFA claims that Chinese is compiling a facebook of US government employees
TFA links to an article on Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com... , which said that according to Fox News, a guy, with the name of Dmitri Alperovitch, claims that China is compiling a MASSIVE facebook-like database of US government employees
Fox News article ( http://www.foxnews.com/politic... ) carries a similar claim
Where's the beef?
Neither of the three articles (Slashdot, Washington Times and Fox News) bother to provide any proof to back up Mr. Alperovitch's allegation
To the editors of Slashdot -
Are you trying to push Slashdot down to the miscreant level of Fox News??
I need access to update my status.
And I want to look around it for the best places to work.
fewest psychopath in management.
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relaxed dress code.
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Didn't care for it on my badge as it was.
I really like the phrase using information to force people to work for the Chinese government. And the collecting government i.e. not the Chinese but the American government was going to use said "embarrasing" information for what ? Why would they be collecting "embarrasing" information in the first place. Everyone really should get over themselves thinking their particular government are the good guys. Politics is and has always been nothing but a dirty game of chess to retain or attain power. Loosing your toys in the playground (i.e. your embarrasing information) is not something you should cry about in public -That in my humble opinion is embarrasing
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AC re "As if money isn't an incentive. Even relatively small amounts can buy information."
If a person is going to sell information, they will want or need to spend that extra cash is strange ways.
That character or lifestyle change is one of the most easy traits for the US gov to track in todays digital world.
Facial recognition via public-private partnerships, collecting all internet use, averaging out payments and cash flow over all gov/mil staff watching for slight extra spending changes.
Colleagues out of spite, jealousy, past issues take note of the changes and start to gossip. What worked "years ago" is now just a trap. Even the classic approach by "foreigners" with accents is usually a trap based on personality profiling by domestic security teams. If not reported fully the trap worked.
Thats why most nations working with humans go for staff they can place at a low level and have work their way up for ideological or patriotic reasons. No sloppy cash trail and the level of trust is perfect over many decades. Too many good networks where lost when cash was spent in the 1950-80's.
Thats why a big long gov/mil list in plain text left to be "found" on the internet is not really much use. Too much could be bait, junk, double and triple profiles all been watched for any contact. But its great for the press and a fun read.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
So how is this different from the "facebook-like" database US agencies are creating on the Chinese government employees? (Assuming they're doing their job right)
Or is someone really surprised that Chinese intelligence is doing their job?
And why not enrich this data by actual facebook data? If someone you know works for the gouvernment "friends" his colleagues on facebook, they don't need to give their employer there explicitly.
bickerdyke
We should also probably steal theirs so we have an idea who China might be going after.
It will be awesome if they make it readable to the whole world. Would also be nice if they added wiki features so that we could do our best to help keep it up-to-date.
These federal aholes know every last detail about us. It would be poetic justice if their detailed personal information was available for our perusal. Perhaps the Chinese managed to acquire that data which was copied from the federal office of personnel management? I want to see names, addresses, photos, work responsibilities, (outrageous) salaries, etc. etc. Especially people in the NSA, ATF, IRS and other criminal organizations, as well as the corrupt and incompetent employees of the FDIC, SEC, OTS and OCC. Everyone that deserve to be fired and/or imprisoned.
Yeah, I believe it. In fact, as a Top Security Consultant myself*, I'll give you a quote:
"$country Compiling "Facebook" of $other_country Government Employees"
Where $country may possibly even be equal to $other_country, and both can be picked from this list: http://www.listofcountriesofth...
* that statement is probably no more true than any of CrowdStrike's credentials, but I've got products and services for sale ;-)
Most people in government are democrats. Things you could blackmail a conservative over are points of pride for democrats. :/
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Nothing new here - not even storing such information on a database. The Roman Emperors did the same without calling it a database, just calling it "politics".
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