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China Has Abandoned a Cybersecurity Truce With the US, Report Says (bloomberg.com)

Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike says China has largely abandoned a hacking truce negotiated by Barack Obama as President Trump embarked on a trade war with Beijing last year. "A slowdown in Chinese hacking following the cybersecurity agreement Obama's administration secured in 2015 appears to have been reversed, the firm said in a report released Tuesday that reviewed cyber activity by U.S. adversaries in 2018," reports Bloomberg. From the report: The report comes as the Trump administration seeks to reach a trade deal with China, including provisions on intellectual property theft, ahead of a March 1 deadline. Trump has said he may extend that deadline and hold off on increasing tariffs on Chinese imports if there's progress in the talks. China's hacking targets in 2018 included telecommunications systems in the U.S. and Asia, according to Crowdstrike. Groups linked to Iran and Russia also appeared to target telecommunications, a sector that yields "the most bang for your buck" for hackers due to the large number of users that can be accessed after breaching a single network, Meyers said.

The findings align with concern in the U.S. about telecommunications security as the country transitions to the next generation of mobile networks and the Trump administration seeks to secure so-called 5G technology from foreign intelligence gathering. The administration has expressed particular concern about the spread of products made by the Chinese firm Huawei Technologies Co.
The report also mentions the increased cyber activity in other parts of the world. "Iran focused much of its cyber activity on Middle Eastern and North African countries while Russia engaged in intelligence collection and information operations worldwide," the report says. "North Korea deployed hackers for financial gain and intelligence collection, while China targeted sectors including technology, manufacturing and hospitality."

13 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. As decided by random security firm? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

    >> official thing negotiated by POTUS

    So...the standard of whether or not the agreement was violated is decided by a random security firm?

    1. Re:As decided by random security firm? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The standard is determined by people who set policy. The report documents the frequency of known attacks, which is increasing. Crowdstrike is hardly random, they've done this for a while. Why phrase things dishonestly?

    2. Re:As decided by random security firm? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, I think I'd rather trust the DoD, or NSA, or even the FBI to determine if a government is behind the attacks verses some rando, publicity seeking, scare mongering, Alex Jones level of conspiracy spewing "security firm" like Crowdstrike.

    3. Re:As decided by random security firm? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why are we expected to believe anything CrowdStrike says these days?

  2. Let me get this straight by Crashmarik · · Score: 2

    We are supposed to be disturbed that China is trying to hack our networks and steal information, and intellectual property from us in response to our trying to hold them culpable for stealing information ,intellectual property and one sided trade practices ?

    Well I guess the next time somebody commits murder their solemn promise not to do it again should be enough for anyone.

    1. Re: Let me get this straight by edris90 · · Score: 2

      They Didn't commit any crimes. Because they are the authority any decision makers of how Law is defined within their land. Us businesses chose to give their IP to the Chinese government when they chose to do business with China and transfer that information into the country. Now they're mad because they made a bad decision. everyone knows that the Chinese government has rights to anyting within their borders IP wise. Because that's the law. So call it what it is American businesses stupidly thought American legal definitions applied to other countries and now have to eat their mistake. China's not the unites states. Us law doesn't matter there. Nor should it. Instead weather Blame whoever was in those companies decided to stupidly send their IP to China when they didn't want to lose control of it. That's who fucked up.. Intellectual property has no natural Basis. It's a legal contruct to provide artificially enforced economic value. You leave law system that maintains the existence of IP, and you enter the bigger world where that shit is nonsense.

  3. old fashioned fear mongering by SirAstral · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Be nice to us economically or face random hacks... we will also tell your citizens that you would not be nice to us and "negotiate" so they will get mad at you about it too.

    China is terrible country that is far worse than America. I don't have a problem with cutting ties with that disgusting nation until they stop abusing their citizens. It like someone coming to your door and saying... I want you to sell me your house for 20% off or I am going to harass your neighborhood and watching your fellow neighbor getting pissed off at your for refusing to let bad people get their way!

    Sadly, it works too! Just look at this article!

    1. Re:old fashioned fear mongering by dcw3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We should cut ties because the NSA hacks the planet,

      Certainly the UK would never do such a thing. And the UK certainly doesn't have a history of torture...oh no.

      If you don't think your country is spying on just about every other country on the planet, you're a simpleton.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
  4. What this means: by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What this really means is that China's ability to obtain companies' IP through other means (e.g. espionage or via Chinese law) are not as effective as they once were or hoped they would be. The policy of the Chinese government has been "China first and to hell with the rest of you" long before Trump paraded out his "America First" line. China only does things that will benefit China and therefore the truce was part of that calculation. Now that things have changed and/or it's proven to not be as effective as hoped/expected (e.g. beefed up security and/or higher awareness by US companies), the Chinese government has resumed their normal hacking operations to steal IP. Alternatively, they predicted a massive influx of US companies that would be handing over their IP to China which hasn't panned out as expected. Anyway it goes, they were expecting to get more of the IP from US companies and it didn't happen and their response is to take it by hacking into companies.

    Note: I'm not claiming superiority in any regard, I'm just explaining the thought process that dictates their actions. (Take your whataboutism and shove it because this is about China.)

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  5. Looking at it from outside .... by AxeTheMax · · Score: 2

    For comparison, what is the historic and current level of US espionage / hacking of China and Chinese targets? Preferably from an independent source.

  6. Re:Anti China Propoganda by dcw3 · · Score: 2

    It's my new pick up line...Hey baby, want some free penetration testing?

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
  7. Re:TLDR by terrycarlino · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yeah, because China wouldn't have dared to lie to Barack.

    Please. China has been engaged in cyberwarfare since the invention of the computer network. They're not stepping it up. They're getting caught more, and western countries are starting to replace "unknown foreign actor" with "Chinese" in reports, rather than continuing to give them cover.

    They steal our intellectual property, manipulate currency, and likely install backdoors in networks, chips and other devices manufactured for export. And like Lenin said many U.S. corporations are not only glad to sell them the rope with which to hang us, they'll actually pay them to put the rope around our necks.

  8. Abandoned? That's funny! by Chas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They were violating it while it was being signed, and never actually lived up to any part of it.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!