The state security ministry is recruiting from a vast pool of private-sector hackers who often have their own agendas and sometimes use their access for commercial cybercrime, experts say.
China’s buzzy high-tech companies don’t usually recruit Cambodian speakers, so the job ads for three well-paid positions with those language skills stood out. The ad, seeking writers of research reports, was placed by an internet security start-up in China’s tropical island-province of Hainan.
That start-up was more than it seemed, according to American law enforcement. Hainan Xiandun Technology was part of a web of front companies controlled by China’s secretive state security ministry, according to a federal indictment from May. They hacked computers from the United States to Cambodia to Saudi Arabia, seeking sensitive government data as well as less-obvious spy stuff, like details of a New Jersey company’s fire-suppression system, according to prosecutors. Read More
Tag Archives: China
When Will China Rule the World? Maybe Never
When will China overtake the U.S. to become the world’s biggest economy?
Few questions are more consequential, whether it’s for executives wondering where long-term profits will come from, investors weighing the dollar’s status as global reserve currency, or generals strategizing over geopolitical flashpoints.
In Beijing, where they’ve just been celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, leaders are doing their best to present the baton-change as imminent and inevitable. “The Chinese nation,” President Xi Jinping said last week, “is marching towards a great rejuvenation at an unstoppable pace.” Read More
China Revs Up Grand Chip Ambitions to Counter U.S. Blacklistings
In just two decades, China sent people into space, built its own aircraft carrier and developed a stealth fighter jet. Now the world’s youngest superpower is setting out to prove its capabilities once more — this time in semiconductors.
At stake is nothing less than the future of the world’s No. 2 economy. Beijing’s blueprint for chip supremacy is enshrined in a five-year economic vision to be unveiled during a summit of top leaders in the capital this week. It’s a multi-layered strategy both pragmatic and ambitious in scope, embracing aspirations to replace pivotal U.S. suppliers and fend off Washington, while molding homegrown champions in emergent technologies. Read More
China’s ‘Sharp Eyes’ Program Aims to Surveil 100% of Public Space
One of China’s largest and most pervasive surveillance networks got its start in a small county about seven hours north of Shanghai.
Sharp Eyes is one of a number of overlapping and intersecting technological surveillance projects built by the Chinese government over the last two decades. Projects like the Golden Shield Project, Safe Cities, SkyNet, Smart Cities, and now Sharp Eyes mean that there are more than 200 million public and private security cameras installed across China. Read More
Dahua Provides “Uyghur Warnings” To China Police
Chinese propaganda network on Facebook used AI-generated faces
Facebook removed two networks of fake accounts spreading government propaganda on the platform Tuesday, one originating in China and one in the Philippines.
In its latest report on this kind of coordinated campaign, the company says it took down 155 Facebook accounts, 11 pages, nine groups and seven Instagram accounts connected to the Chinese activity and 57 accounts, 31 Pages and 20 Instagram accounts for the activity in the Philippines. Both operations broke Facebook’s rules against “coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign or government entity.” Read More
Chinese-Made Smartphones Are Secretly Stealing Money From People Around The World
Preinstalled malware on low-cost Chinese phones has stolen data and money from some of the world’s poorest people. Read More
How China uses facial recognition to control human behavior
When facial recognition is everywhere, anything you do is fair game for public shaming and punishment.
Facial recognition supporters in the US often argue that the surveillance technology is reserved for the greatest risks — to help deal with violent crimes, terrorist threats and human trafficking. And while it’s still often used for petty crimes like shoplifting, stealing $12 worth of goods or selling $50 worth of drugs, its use in the US still looks tame compared with how widely deployed facial recognition has been in China.
China’s facial recognition system logs nearly every single citizen in the country, with a vast network of cameras across the country. Read More
5G will change the world. China wants to lead the way
China isn’t the only country jockeying for control. The US dominated 4G’s expansion and expects to do the same now.
China is moving full steam ahead on 5G, barely slowed down by a pandemic that has ravaged the world. This is setting up a race between the nation and the US, which led the way with 4G cellular technology and wants to keep its pole position in this next generation. Read More
Algorithmic Warfare: DoD Seeks AI Alliance to Counter China, Russia
Facing growing threats from Russia and China, the Defense Department wants to increase its collaboration with European allies as it pursues new artificial intelligence technology.
Lt. Gen. John N.T. “Jack” Shanahan, director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, said global security challenges and technological innovations are changing the world rapidly. That reality means partner nations must work more closely together in areas such as artificial intelligence. Read More
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