News About Cyber Warfare

Beijing (AFP) Nov 29, 2024 – A Beijing court on Friday sentenced veteran Chinese state media journalist Dong Yuyu to seven years in prison on espionage charges, his family said. Dong, a senior columnist at the Communist Party newspaper Guangming Daily, was detained in February 2022 along with a Japanese diplomat at a Beijing restaurant. The diplomat was released after a few hours of questioning, but Dong, 62, was charged with spying last year. “The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court convicted Yuyu of espionage, a crime that requires that the prosecution prove that the defendant knowingly acted on behalf of ‘espionage organisations’ and their agents,” according to a statement shared by his family with AFP. According to the judgement, the Japanese diplomats Dong met with, including then-ambassador Hideo Tarumi and current Shanghai-based chief diplomat Masaru Okada, were named as agents of an “espionage organisation”, the family statement added. “We are shocked that the Chinese authorities would blatantly deem a foreign embassy as an ‘espionage organisation’ and accuse the former Japanese ambassador and his fellow diplomats of being spies,” Dong’s family said. On Friday, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning responded to Dong’s case by saying “China is a country ruled by law”. The Japanese embassy told AFP that it would not comment directly on the case. But an embassy spokesperson told AFP in an email: “The diplomatic activities of Japanese diplomatic missions abroad are carried out in a legitimate manner.” In Washington, State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller condemned Dong’s jailing and called for his immediate release. “His arrest and today’s sentencing highlight the PRC’s failure to live up to its commitments under international law and its own constitutional guarantees to all its citizens, which include the right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press,” Miller said in a statement referring to China by its official name, the People’s Republic of China. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the “unjust verdict” and called for Dong’s immediate release. “Interacting with diplomats is part of a journalist’s job,” the NGO’s Asia program coordinator Beh Lih Yi said in an email to AFP. “This sentencing cements China’s position as the world’s leading jailer of journalists,” added Yi. Under Chinese law, a person convicted of espionage can be jailed for three to 10 years for less severe cases or receive heavy punishment, including life imprisonment, for serious cases. Dong’s work has been published in the Chinese editions of The New York Times and the Financial Times. He won the prestigious Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University in 2006-2007. He was also a visiting fellow at Keio University in Japan in 2010 and a visiting professor at Hokkaido University in 2014. Civil liberties and freedom of expression have dramatically receded in China under President Xi Jinping’s decade-long tenure. The Communist Party maintains tight restrictions on domestic media outlets, and Chinese nationals who work with foreign outlets are routinely harassed. China is the worst country for jailing media workers with 44 journalists behind bars as of December last year, according to a CPJ ranking. In February, a Beijing court handed a suspended death sentence to jailed dissident writer Yang Hengjun after finding the dual Chinese-Australian citizen guilty on espionage charges. isk-sam-mya/oho/sn/ecl/des/md/st THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY

London (AFP) Dec 3, 2024 – The UK is underestimating the online threat posed by criminal gangs as well as hostile states including Russia and China and must improve its resilience, Britain’s cybersecurity chief said Tuesday. Richard Horne, who became head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in October, used his first major speech to warn of “the aggression and recklessness of cyber activity we see coming from Russia”. He also cautioned that China “remains a highly sophisticated cyber actor, with increasing ambition to project its influence beyond its borders” as his agency unveiled its latest annual review. “Hostile activity in UK cyberspace has increased in frequency, sophistication and intensity,” Horne said, with online actors increasingly targeting technology used by people daily “to cause maximum disruption and destruction”. “We believe the severity of the risk facing the UK is being widely underestimated,” he added. “There is no room for complacency about the severity of state-led threats or the volume of the threat posed by cybercriminals. “The defence and resilience of critical infrastructure, supply chains, the public sector and our wider economy must improve.” The NCSC, which sits within the top-secret electronic eavesdropping agency GCHQ, has repeatedly warned of the growing risks from cyberthreats. The UK has been hit by an array of disruptive cyberattacks in recent years, with targets including London’s transport system, some of the UK’s biggest hospitals and the British Library. Hostile states are suspected of a hand in some of them. “What has struck me more forcefully than anything else since taking the helm at the NCSC is the clearly widening gap between the exposure and threat we face, and the defences that are in place,” Horne said. “We all need to increase the pace we are working at to keep ahead of our adversaries.” Horne singled out Moscow and Beijing, noting that cyberattacks were “increasingly important to Russian actors, along with sabotage threats to physical security”. His comments follow a warning last week by Pat McFadden, a senior UK government minister whose portfolio includes national security, that Russia was “exceptionally aggressive and reckless in the cyber realm”. A year ago, the UK and United States accused Russian security services of engaging in a sustained cyber espionage campaign against top politicians, journalists and NGOs. But the latest accusations come with tensions between the West and Russia particularly heightened, with President Vladimir Putin sparking unease last month when he said the war in Ukraine had the characteristics of a “global” conflict.

Beijing (AFP) Dec 2, 2024 – Beijing warned Monday it could take “countermeasures” against Lithuania after the expulsion of three Chinese embassy staff, as relations fray over Vilnius’s Taiwan ties and the suspected involvement of a Chinese ship in sea cables damage. “China strongly condemns and firmly rejects this wanton and provocative action,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement. “China calls on Lithuania to immediately stop undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and stop creating difficulty for bilateral relations,” they added. Two Baltic Sea telecommunications cables were severed last month in Swedish territorial waters, including one running from the Swedish island of Gotland to Lithuania. Suspicions have been directed at a Chinese ship — the Yi Peng 3 — which tracking sites said had sailed over the cables around the time they were cut. On Friday, Lithuania’s foreign ministry said three Chinese staff members “have been declared undesirable in the country”. The ministry did not give the precise reasons for the expulsion, citing only “activities which violate the Vienna Convention and the legislation of the Republic of Lithuania”. On Wednesday, Lithuania said it was setting up a joint team with Sweden and Finland to investigate the damaged cables, with the support of Eurojust, the European Union’s agency for criminal justice cooperation. China has denied any responsibility in the matter and said Friday it was “willing to work” with a probe. Ties between Vilnius and Beijing had already been tense after Lithuania in 2021 allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy under the island’s name. Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, on Monday accused Vilnius of “acting in serious violation of the one-China principle”. “This has caused severe difficulty for bilateral ties,” the spokesperson said.

San Francisco (AFP) Dec 4, 2024 – OpenAI and military defense technology company Anduril Industries said Wednesday that they would work together to use artificial intelligence for “national security missions.” The ChatGPT-maker and Anduril will focus on improving defenses against drone attacks, the companies said in a joint release. The partnership comes nearly a year after OpenAI did away with wording in its policies that banned use of its technology for military or warfare purposes. Founded in 2017, Anduril is a technology company that builds command and control systems and a variety of drones, counting the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom among its customers, according to its website. OpenAI said in October that it was collaborating with the US military’s research arm DARPA on cyber defenses for critical networks. “AI is a transformational technology that can be used to strengthen democratic values or to undermine them,” OpenAI said in a post at the time. “With the proper safeguards, AI can help protect people, deter adversaries, and even prevent future conflict.” The companies said the deal would help the United States maintain an edge over China, a goal that OpenAI chief Sam Altman has spoken of in the past. “Our partnership with Anduril will help ensure OpenAI technology protects US military personnel, and will help the national security community understand and responsibly use this technology to keep our citizens safe and free,” Altman said in Wednesday’s release. Anduril was co-founded by Palmer Luckey, after Facebook bought his previous company Oculus VR in a $2 billion deal. The new partnership will bring together OpenAI’s advanced AI models with Anduril systems and software, according to the companies. “Our partnership with OpenAI will allow us to utilize their world-class expertise in artificial intelligence to address urgent Air Defense capability gaps across the world,” Anduril co-founder and chief executive Brian Schimpf said in the release. Schimpf said the collaboration would allow “military and intelligence operators to make faster, more accurate decisions in high-pressure situations.”

Brussels, Belgium (AFP) Dec 4, 2024 – NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Wednesday the alliance had agreed on “proactive measures” to counter Russia’s campaign of hybrid attacks against its members. The West has accused Moscow of being behind a string of sabotage attacks on European soil aimed at deterring Ukraine’s backers from sending support to Kyiv. “Allies are working very hard to make sure when it comes to sabotage, cyber-attacks, energy blackmail, that we take all the measures necessary to counter that,” Rutte said after talks with NATO foreign ministers. “These include enhanced intelligence exchange, more exercises, better protection of critical infrastructure, improved cyber defence, and tougher action against Russia’s shadow fleet of oil exporting ships.” NATO officials said the alliance was working on a new strategy to combat Russian and Chinese hostile actions for a summit next June in The Hague. The alleged hybrid campaign poses a problem for NATO as it exists in a grey zone often seen as beneath the level of threat that could trigger the alliance’s mutual defence clause. “This year, there were 500 suspicious incidents in Europe. Up to 100 them can be attributed to Russia, hybrid attacks, espionage, influence operations,” said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky. “We need to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won’t be tolerated.” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “waging this hybrid war of aggression with hybrid attacks on our European peace order. “He is trying to shake our democratic societies,” she told journalists. Worries about sabotage were recently heightened after undersea cables in the Baltic sea were cut, with suspicion falling on a Chinese vessel. “We will continue to expand our monitoring of hybrid attacks and draw the appropriate political conclusions from this, as well as the de facto expansion of monitoring in the Baltic Sea region,” Baerbock said.

Washington (AFP) Dec 6, 2024 – TikTok edged closer to being banned in the United States after it lost an appeal on Friday against a law requiring the video-sharing app to divest from its Chinese parent company by January 19. The potential ban could strain US-China relations just as president-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office on January 20. TikTok said it would now appeal to the Supreme Court, which could choose to take up the case or let the circuit court’s decision stand. “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” the company said. TikTok will also be looking to Trump, who has emerged as an unlikely ally, arguing that a ban would mainly benefit Facebook parent company Meta’s platforms, owned by Mark Zuckerberg. Trump’s stance reflects broader conservative criticism of Meta for allegedly suppressing right-wing content, including the former president himself being banned from Facebook after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot by his supporters. The US government alleges TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users. It also says TikTok is a conduit to spread propaganda, though China and app owner ByteDance strongly deny these claims. – ‘National security’ concerns – The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, would block TikTok from US app stores and web hosting services unless ByteDance sells the platform by January 19. While recognizing that “170 million Americans use TikTok to create and view all sorts of free expression,” the three-judge panel unanimously upheld the law’s premise that divesting it from China’s control “is essential to protect our national security.” They found that the law did not hinder free speech as it was “devoid of an institutional aim to suppress particular messages or ideas.” The judges also disagreed with the idea that less drastic alternatives than a sale by ByteDance would solve the security issues. US Attorney General Merrick Garland welcomed the decision saying “the Justice Department is committed to defending Americans’ sensitive data from authoritarian regimes that seek to exploit companies under their control.” Trump’s support for TikTok marks a reversal from his first term, when the Republican leader tried to ban the app over similar security concerns. That effort got bogged down in the courts when a federal judge questioned how the move would affect free speech and blocked the initiative. Among those who helped Trump to the White House in this year’s election was Jeff Yass, a major Republican donor with ByteDance investments. – ‘Trump lifeline’ – “Donald Trump could be a lifeline for TikTok once he takes office, but halting the enforcement of the ban is easier said than done,” said Emarketer lead Analyst Jasmine Enberg. “And even if he does manage to save TikTok, he’s already flip-flopped on his stance toward the app and there’s no guarantee he won’t go after it later.” The president-elect launched his own TikTok account in June, gaining 14.6 million followers, but has not posted since Election Day. Despite the uncertainty, TikTok’s presence in the United States continues growing. The platform reported $100 million in Black Friday sales for its new shopping venture, and Emarketer projects US ad revenue will reach $15.5 billion next year, accounting for 4.5 percent of total digital ad spending in the country. But Enberg warned a ban would significantly disrupt the social media landscape, benefiting Meta, YouTube, and Snap while harming content creators and small businesses dependent on TikTok. Gautam Hans, professor at Cornell Law School, said the judges treated the government’s national security argument “with great deference… while undervaluing the radical effects this unfortunate decision will have for individual speakers and First Amendment doctrine.” But given the unanimous ruling and the short timeline before the law’s date of taking effect, it was “unlikely that the Supreme Court will take the case, which will almost certainly lead to TikTok’s demise in just a handful of weeks,” he added. In contrast, Carl Tobias, of the University of Richmond, said that given the “critical implications” of the issues in question — national security and free speech — the apex court would likely take the case.

London (AFP) Dec 6, 2024 – London’s Metropolitan Police force said on Friday that it had used facial recognition technology to make more than 500 arrests in 2024 for offences ranging from shoplifting to rape. The force uses live facial recognition in specific areas of the UK capital, positioning a van equipped with cameras in a pre-agreed location. The cameras capture live footage of passers-by and compare their faces against a pre-approved watchlist, generating an alert if a match is detected. Civil liberties campaigners have criticised the use of such technology, and advocacy group Big Brother Watch has launched legal action to stop its expansion. “The technology works by creating a ‘faceprint’ of everyone who passes in front of camera — processing biometric data as sensitive as a fingerprint, often without our knowledge or consent,” the group says on is website. “This dangerously authoritarian surveillance is a threat to our privacy and freedoms — it has no place on the streets of Britain,” it adds. The Met says it is a “forerunner” in using the technology, adding that it helps “make London safer” by helping detect “offenders who pose significant risks to our communities”. Of the 540 arrests, more then 50 were for serious offences involving violence against women and girls, including offences such as strangulation, stalking, domestic abuse and rape. More than 400 of those arrested have already been charged or cautioned. “This technology is helping us protect our communities from harm,” said Lindsey Chiswick, the Met’s Director of Performance. “It is a powerful tool that supports officers to identify and focus on people who present the highest risk that may otherwise have gone undetected,” she added. Responding to privacy fears, police said that the biometric data of any passer-by not on a watchlist is “immediately and permanently deleted”.

Washington (AFP) Dec 11, 2024 – The United States offered a $10 million reward on Tuesday for information leading to the arrest of a Chinese man and co-conspirators wanted for hacking computer firewalls. Guan Tianfeng, 30, is believed to be living in China’s Sichuan province, according to the State Department. An indictment charging Guan with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud was unsealed on Tuesday. The Treasury Department said it had imposed sanctions on the company Guan worked for, Sichuan Silence Information Technology Co Ltd. Beijing swiftly hit back, accusing the US of “exploiting cybersecurity issues to smear and discredit China”. “We firmly oppose the excessive application of illegal unilateral sanctions… against Chinese entities and individuals,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a Wednesday press briefing. “China will take necessary measures to safeguard the just legal rights and interests of its companies and citizens,” she said. Guan and co-conspirators at Sichuan Silence allegedly took advantage of a vulnerability in firewalls sold by UK-based cybersecurity company Sophos Ltd, according to the indictment. “The defendant and his co-conspirators exploited a vulnerability in tens of thousands of network security devices, infecting them with malware designed to steal information from victims around the world,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. Some 81,000 firewall devices were simultaneously attacked worldwide in April 2020, the indictment said, with the aim of stealing data, including usernames and passwords, while also attempting to infect the computers with ransomware. More than 23,000 firewalls were in the United States, of which 36 were protecting “critical infrastructure companies’ systems,” the Treasury said. “The zero-day vulnerability Guan Tianfeng and his co-conspirators found and exploited affected firewalls owned by businesses across the United States,” FBI agent Herbert Stapleton said. “If Sophos had not rapidly identified the vulnerability and deployed a comprehensive response, the damage could have been far more severe.” According to the indictment, Sichuan Silence sold its services and the data it obtained through hacking to Chinese businesses and to government entities, including the Ministry of Public Security. A man who answered a call to a phone number registered with Sichuan Silence on Wednesday said the company “did not accept interviews” and declined to comment on the sanctions. The man, who did not identify himself when asked by AFP, also said Guan was “uncontactable.” US sanctions Chinese cybersecurity firm for ‘malicious’ activitiesWashington (AFP) Dec 10, 2024 – The US slapped sanctions on a Chinese cybersecurity company and one of its employees Tuesday, accusing it of compromising more than 80,000 firewalls in a 2020 attack. The US Treasury Department said in a statement that it had sanctioned Sichuan Silence Information Technology Company and an employee named Guan Tianfeng over the April 2020 attack, which targeted firewalls around the world, including US critical infrastructure. Over a three-day period, Guan had exploited a vulnerability in a firewall product, and proceeded to deploy malware against around 81,000 businesses around the world with the aim of stealing data, including usernames and passwords, while also attempting to infect the computers with ransomware, according to the Treasury Department. More than 23,000 firewalls were in the United States, of which 36 were protecting “critical infrastructure companies’ systems,” the Treasury said. “Today’s action underscores our commitment to exposing these malicious cyber activities… and to holding the actors behind them accountable for their schemes,” Bradley Smith, Treasury acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement. The Treasury, he added, “will continue to leverage our tools to disrupt attempts by malicious cyber actors to undermine our critical infrastructure.” Alongside the sanctions, the Department of Justice has also unsealed an indictment against Guan, and announced a reward of up to $10 million for information about the employee or company, according to the Treasury Department.

Washington (AFP) Dec 10, 2024 – The US slapped sanctions on a Chinese cybersecurity company and one of its employees Tuesday, accusing it of compromising more than 80,000 firewalls in a 2020 attack. The US Treasury Department said in a statement that it had sanctioned Sichuan Silence Information Technology Company and an employee named Guan Tianfeng over the April 2020 attack, which targeted firewalls around the world, including US critical infrastructure. Over a three-day period, Guan had exploited a vulnerability in a firewall product, and proceeded to deploy malware against around 81,000 businesses around the world with the aim of stealing data, including usernames and passwords, while also attempting to infect the computers with ransomware, according to the Treasury Department. More than 23,000 firewalls were in the United States, of which 36 were protecting “critical infrastructure companies’ systems,” the Treasury said. “Today’s action underscores our commitment to exposing these malicious cyber activities… and to holding the actors behind them accountable for their schemes,” Bradley Smith, Treasury acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement. The Treasury, he added, “will continue to leverage our tools to disrupt attempts by malicious cyber actors to undermine our critical infrastructure.” Alongside the sanctions, the Department of Justice has also unsealed an indictment against Guan, and announced a reward of up to $10 million for information about the employee or company, according to the Treasury Department.

London (AFP) Dec 13, 2024 – A former UK security minister on Friday said that it was “extremely embarrassing” that a suspected Chinese spy had become a confidant of disgraced royal Prince Andrew. The story dominated the UK’s front pages on Friday, the latest humiliation for a prince whose reputation is already in tatters over his ties to accused sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein. Judges on Thursday upheld a ban on the businessman, identified only as H6, from entering the country, and said the prince’s troubles had left him “vulnerable” to exploitation. In the ruling, judges assessed H6 was in a position to “generate relationships between senior Chinese officials and prominent UK figures which could be leveraged for political interference purposes by the Chinese State”. Asked whether the prince’s advisers should have been more alert to the danger, former minister of state for security Tom Tugendhat told the BBC that “it’s not quite as black and white as it may first appear — but it’s certainly extremely embarrassing”. The tribunal heard that the prince’s aide Dominic Hampshire told the suspected spy that he could help in potential dealings with Chinese investors. “Outside of his (Andrew’s) closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on,” Hampshire told H6 in a 2020 letter. H6 also received an invitation to the prince’s birthday party. Former interior minister Suella Braverman banned H6 from entering the country in 2023 after her ministry found he had engaged in “covert and deceptive activity” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The tribunal upheld the ban on Thursday, ruling that Braverman “was entitled to conclude that his exclusion was justified and proportionate”. A statement from Andrew’s office said that the Duke of York had “followed advice” from the government and “ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised”. “The duke met the individual through official channels, with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed.” Andrew withdrew from frontline royal duties in late 2019 after public outrage over a BBC television interview in which he defended his friendship with Epstein. The former Royal Navy helicopter pilot, 64, in February 2022 settled a US civil case brought by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was 17. Andrew’s mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, stripped him of his honorary military titles and patronages soon afterwards, effectively shutting him out of royal life.