According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Chinese-affiliated hackers have compromised U.S. government computer systems.
“This beaconing is a result of cyber threat actors successfully completing cyber operations that are often designed around emergent vulnerabilities and reliant on existing exploitation tools,” the advisory states. “CISA observed activity from a Federal Government IP address beaconing out to the threat actors’ [command and control] server.”
Get we just get it together for 10 seconds, please?
A report on Friday says that China would rather TikTok be shut down instead of being sold to a U.S. company.
However, Chinese officials believe a forced sale would make both ByteDance and China appear weak in the face of pressure from Washington, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.
ByteDance said in a statement to Reuters that the Chinese government had never suggested to it that it should shut down TikTok in the United States or in any other markets.
Here’s what I think this means. China is all about the AI, and based on reports its algorithms seem to be more advanced than even invasive Facebook. China doesn’t want the U.S. to know just how more advanced it’s algorithms are. Read: China export ban of such technology.
Apple has published a human rights policy in response to a campaign from SumOfUs, an international consumer group and an Apple shareholder.
Facebook and Google are cancelling plans to connect the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) to Hong Kong after fears were raised over China.
President Trump’s ban on Chinese apps, in particular WeChat, is going to affect Apple, writes Michael Kan.
Forty-five days from now, the White House can begin punishing US companies and individuals for making “transactions” that are related to WeChat. That means Apple will likely need to pull the product from the iOS app store.
“For Apple, it would be all iPhone sales in China will go to zero because no one in China will buy a WeChatless phone,” tweeted podcaster Carl Zha.
As I understand it, WeChat is THE most popular app in China. It’s what Facebook aspires to be with Messenger. It’s used for everything like messaging, mobile payments, a hub for businesses, etc. Like Mr. Kan notes, it won’t affect Google because apps can be sideloaded on Android. But the App Store is the single repository of iOS apps.
TikTok has faced accusations of data collecting and spying for the Chinese government. Here’s what the experts say.
A report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute claims that Apple is among 83 companies to use forced labor from Uyghur Muslims.
During an interview with Fox News, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. is considering banning Chinese apps like TikTok.
Due to China’s new national security law, Hong Kong has been requesting more access to user data to hand over to law enforcement.
Team Telcom is calling on the FCC to cancel part of an undersea cable that links Los Angeles to Hong Kong over Chinese spying fears.
Three lawmakers in the U.S. have asked Zoom to clarify its relationship with China after the company suspended user accounts at its request.
Andrew Orr and Charlotte Henry join Kelly Guimont to discuss Apple’s inclusion on China’s “naughty” list and corporate responsibility.
Officials at the White House are reportedly in talks with Intel and TSMC to build semiconductor facilities in the United States.
U.S. tech companies and the government have been trying to reduce the country’s dependence on chip factories in Asia for years, underscored by national security concerns […]
In an April 28 letter obtained by the WSJ, Intel CEO Bob Swan told Defense Department that the company is willing to build a commercial foundry in partnership with the Pentagon “given the uncertainty created by the current geopolitical situation.”
The newspaper reports that TSMC has been in talks with Commerce and Defense department officials and Apple, one of the biggest clients, about building a semiconductor factory in the U.S.
Corporations have spent the last 30 or so years moving manufacturing to China in search of cheap labor. Did they not expect China to start competing with them?
An iOS exploit called Insomnia was used between January and March 2020 to spy on Uyghurs in China using apps like Signal and ProtonMail.
One of Zoom’s controversies is how it routes some of its network traffic through China’s servers. If you’re privacy conscious, you can opt out of specific data center regions starting April 18. But this is only for paying customers.
This feature gives our customers more control over their data and their interaction with our global network when using Zoom’s industry-leading video communication services.
I can’t say I agree. It’s not about making privacy a paid feature, it’s that Zoom is exploiting its own insecurity to create a paid feature. Next step: Making end-to-end encryption a paid feature, and leaving free users to fend for themselves.
As retail outlets in China reopened, Apple shipped 2.5 million iPhones in the country in March – a three-fold increase from the month before.
Here’s another thing to put on your technology watch lists. Due to a combination of the economic consequences of the coronavirus and the trade war between the U.S. and China, many U.S. companies are moving their manufacturing out of China. Consulting firm Kearney publishes its Reshoring Index [PDF].
Kearney predicts companies “will be compelled to go much further in rethinking their sourcing strategies, (and) their entire supply chains.”
Amid other companies, Mexican manufacturing is one possible fork in Apple’s road, along with Vietnam. As Forbes states, the U.S. can’t compete with China on labor costs, and I bet few Western countries can. I don’t know what the cost is to manufacture in Mexico, but the country likely carries less risk than China.
Researchers found that Zoom uses its own encryption scheme, sometimes using keys issued by China.
Some of the key management systems — 5 out of 73, in a Citizen Lab scan — seem to be located in China, with the rest in the United States. Interestingly, the Chinese servers are at least sometimes used for Zoom chats that have no nexus in China. The two Citizen Lab researchers, Bill Marczak and John Scott-Railton, live in the United States and Canada. During a test call between the two, the shared meeting encryption key “was sent to one of the participants over TLS from a Zoom server apparently located in Beijing,” according to the report.
I don’t have further commentary on Zoom, other than asking, “How will this end?”
The U.S. Trade Representative approved Apple’s request to exclude the Apple Watch from U.S. tariffs on imported Chinese goods.
Andrew Orr and Bryan Chaffin join host Kelly Guimont to discuss China’s outsized App Store power, and getting free ebooks from a few sources.
