The China Thread

[Neil]

They already have all your military secrets, courtesy of traitorous Israel.

Let's just pretend there's some they don't have, mmmkay?

And that's why Israel is running Operation Siegebreaker.

[Eddie Teach]

Siege can't be a spy, he'd be passing out state secrets after two beers.

[The Brain]

Siege can't be a spy, he'd be passing out state secrets after two beers.

Difficult to do that after passing out yourself first.

[Grey Fox]

What I don't understand is what is the Israel end game of selling secrets to China. What's the advantage?

[The Brain]

What I don't understand is what is the Israel end game of selling secrets to China. What's the advantage?

Jews. Money. Ring a bell?

[The Minsky Moment]

The company (Ralls) responded by filing a law suit against Obama, which if nothing else demonstrates that they are doing everything they can to make themselves seem like regular Americans.

[DGuller]

Siege can't be a spy, he'd be passing out state secrets after two beers.

Difficult to do that after passing out yourself first.

[CountDeMoney]

Imagine that.

Energy-Grid Company Hit by Apparent Chinese Hackers
26 September 2012 | 01:34 PM ET | by Ben Weitzenkorn, SecurityNewsDaily Staff Writer

A company that provides industrial automation technology to agencies overseeing the energy industry said its systems have been the target of an elaborate cyberattack, affecting its operations in North America and Spain.

Experts have linked clues left by the hackers to a Chinese group with a history of spying on and hacking into important Western infrastructure systems and databases.

Telvent Canada sent letters to its customers to inform them that hackers had installed malware and taken proprietary files related to key supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems used in "smart grid" technology, security journalist Brian Krebs reported.

"We do not have any reason to believe that the intruder(s) acquired any information that would enable them to gain access to a customer system or that any of the compromised computers have been connected to a customer system," the letter said.

The company added that, as a safety measure, it had "indefinitely terminated any customer system access by Telvent."

[Chinese Military Admits Cyberwarfare Unit Exists]

SCADA systems are large-scale industrial control systems that let human operators control entire physical systems, often spread across several sites, from a single control room. Early multi-site SCADA systems used closed networks to reach remote sites, but it's become more convenient and more cost-effective to simply hook them up to the Internet.

However, Internet connections to SCADA systems build in new vulnerabilities, which can become matters of national security if those systems are power plants, water-treatment facilities, traffic lights or other pieces of "critical infrastructure."

As Krebs points out, this incident is just the latest in a long list of examples of what can happen "when corporate computer systems at critical networks are connected to sensitive control systems that were never designed with security in mind."

A Senate bill forcing critical-infrastructure operators to beef up their SCADA security was defeated by Republicans earlier this year. President Barack Obama is said to be considering an executive order that would achieve the same goal without Congressional input.

Even SCADA systems isolated from the Internet can be attacked, as Iran found out in 2010 when the American-Israeli Stuxnet sabotage worm snuck into the Natanz uranium-processing facility aboard a USB stick and set back Iran's nuclear program by several months.

After looking over reports of the ongoing attack against Telvent, Dell SecureWorks malware researcher Joe Stewart told Krebs that a band of Chinese hackers called the Comment Group seem to be behind the attack. Based on the Comment Group's abilities and preferred targets, many security experts believe the group is backed by the Chinese government.

The Comment Group uses highly sophisticated methods to break into the computer networks of high-profile organizations with data and secrets that "could give China an edge as it strives to become the world's largest economy," a July 2012 Bloomberg article asserted.

Among the targets mentioned in the Bloomberg piece was a law firm going after Chinese exporters and an energy company with plans to drill in disputed waters that China lays claim to.

STOP APOLOGIZING FOR CANADA DAMMIT

Canada won't say if China involved in hacking incident

(Reuters) - Canada said it was aware hackers had breached security at a domestic manufacturer of software used by big energy companies, but declined to comment on a report that a Chinese group could be responsible.

Calgary-based Telvent Canada Ltd, which is owned by France's Schneider Electric SA, warned customers about the attack, which hit operations in the United States, Canada and Spain, the cyber security news site KrebsOnSecurity.com reported on Wednesday.

"The Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre is aware of this incident and is already working with stakeholders in government and the private sector," public safety ministry spokesman Jean-Paul Duval said in an email late on Thursday.

KrebsOnSecurity.com cited experts who said digital fingerprints left during the attack pointed to Chinese hackers.

If a Chinese group were involved it could complicate matters for Canada's Conservative government, which is deciding whether to approve a landmark $15.1 billion bid by China's CNOOC Ltd to take over Canadian oil producer Nexen Inc.

Some legislators are wary of the proposed takeover, in part because of what they say are China's unfair business practices.

Duval, citing operational reasons, declined to comment when asked whether Canada thought Chinese hackers were responsible.

Nexen is based in the oil-rich province of Alberta, the political stronghold of the governing Conservatives.

Candice Bergen, an aide to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, did not directly address the incident when asked about it in Parliament on Friday. She said Ottawa had recently spent C$90 million ($92 million) on measures to combat electronic threats.

The opposition New Democratic Party said the Conservatives needed to pay more attention to security concerns when looking at foreign takeover bids.

"Cyber security is something we have to pay attention to and that ... includes how deals are set up and trade deals are set up and acquisitions are made," said legislator Paul Dewar, the party's foreign affairs spokesman.

Although Industry Minister Christian Paradis is responsible for deciding whether the CNOOC bid should be approved, independent Conservative legislator Peter Goldring says a parliamentary committee ought to examine it.

"One of the main priorities of this committee will be to determine whether a foreign state-owned enterprise is an acceptable bidder ... for taking over a Canadian corporation," he said in a statement.

If a committee were set up it could delay the government's timetable for a ruling on the CNOOC deal. Paradis is expected to announce that decision by Nov 12.

China is often cited as a suspect in various hacking attacks on companies in the United States and other nations. Beijing dismisses allegations it is involved.

An organization that regulates U.S. electric utilities is looking into the breach at Telvent Canada Ltd, which makes software that energy companies use to manage production and distribution of electricity. Telvent acknowledged a breach had taken place but gave few details.

The government's Canadian Security Intelligence Service says hackers try to break into government networks every day.

"Another traditional economic espionage target we often come across is the oil and gas industry ... Canada remains an attractive target for economic espionage," the spy agency said in its annual report released last week.

CSIS did not identify nations it said were responsible for the attacks. In 2010, the head of CSIS said ministers in two of Canada's 10 provinces were under "the general influence of a foreign government" and made clear he was talking about China.

[FunkMonk]

President Romney would have never left that happen seedy.

[CountDeMoney]

Six crew arrested after Hong Kong ferry collision kills 37

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police arrested six crew on Tuesday after a ferry and a company boat carrying more than 120 staff and family celebrating the mid-autumn festival collided, killing 37 people as the boat sank.

The boat, belonging to Hongkong Electric Co, controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, was taking passengers to watch fireworks in the city's Victoria Harbor on Monday when the two vessels collided near the picturesque outlying island of Lamma.

Five children were among the dead. More than 100 people were taken to hospital, with nine suffering serious injuries or in critical condition, the government said in a statement.

"We suspect that somebody did not fulfill their responsibility, that's why we made the arrests," Police Commissioner Andy Tsang said. "We do not rule out the possibility that further arrests will be made."

The arrests involved crew of both vessels.

The collision sparked a major rescue involving dive teams, helicopters and boats that saw scores plucked from the sea. A large crane on a barge was connected to the stricken boat.

"Within 10 minutes, the ship had sunk. We had to wait at least 20 minutes before we were rescued," said one male survivor, wrapped in a blanket.

Survivors said people had to break windows to swim to the surface. "We thought we were going to die. Everyone was trapped inside," said a middle-aged woman.

The fireworks marked the mid-autumn festival, when the moon is full, and China's National Day. Hong Kong returned to Chinese from British rule in 1997.

Hongkong Electric, a unit of Power Assets Holdings which is controlled by Asia's richest man Li, said the boat had capacity to hold up to 200 people.

The tragedy was the worst to hit Hong Kong since 1996 when more than 40 people died in a fire in a commercial building.

"OUR CAPTAIN IS NOT WELL"

The ferry, owned by Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry Holdings, suffered a badly damaged bow in the collision but made it safely to the pier on Lamma, an island popular with tourists and expatriates about a half-hour away from downtown Hong Kong.

Several of its roughly 100 passengers and crew were injured.

"After the accident, it was all chaos and people were crying. Then water began seeping in and the vessel began to tilt to one side and people were all told to stand on the other side and everyone started putting on life jackets," a passenger said.

Hong Kong is home to one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, but serious accidents are rare. The city is known for its high-quality public services and advanced infrastructure.

A spokeswoman for Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry said the company was trying to assess what happened.

"Our captain is not well and we have not been able to talk to him so far," the spokeswoman told local television.

A Hong Kong Fire Services official said the search was hampered by the vessel being partly sunken, poor visibility and too much clutter. The search for survivors was continuing on Tuesday.

Teams of men in white coats, green rubber gloves and yellow helmets carried corpses off a police launch in body bags.

At one of the city's public mortuaries, around 50 grieving relatives gathered, some crying, while others were called in to identify the dead.

Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying visited survivors and pledged a thorough investigation. He declared three days of mourning starting on Thursday.

Thousands of Hong Kong residents live on outlying islands such as Lamma, which lies about three km (two miles) southwest of Hong Kong Island.

Neato animation of the accident, complete with thought bubbles.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sharednews-hong-kong-ferry-accident-20121002,0,5196869.premiumvideo

[MadImmortalMan]

Not well = passed out drunk

[CountDeMoney]

Excellent piece on those sneaky rat bastards Huawei on 60 Minutes tonight:

(CBS News) U.S. companies have largely left the telecommunications business to foreigners, but can we trust the Chinese to build and maintain the critical data infrastructure that government and industry rely on without spying on us? Steve Kroft investigates.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57527441/huawei-probed-for-security-espionage-risk/?tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

IF YOU LOVE AMERICA YOU WILL WATCH IT

[Kleves]

can we trust the Chinese to build and maintain the critical data infrastructure that government and industry rely on without spying on us?

Survey says: No.

WASHINGTON — The federal government should "view with suspicion" attempts by two Chinese telecommunications companies to expand in the U.S. market because of a strong risk that they would aid spying and cybertheft by China, a yearlong investigation by the House intelligence committee concluded.

House investigators working for Democrats and Republicans said in a report that Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp., two private companies with deep ties to the Chinese government, had not satisfied security concerns.

"Despite hours of interviews, extensive and repeated document requests, a review of open-source information, and an open hearing with witnesses from both companies, the committee remains unsatisfied with the level of cooperation and candor provided by each company," the report says. "Neither company was willing to provide sufficient evidence to ameliorate the committee's concerns."

The report recommended that the U.S. government block the companies from access to any sensitive U.S. networks, and from acquiring U.S. assets. The companies make routers, switches and other parts used in telecommunications systems.

Huawei has hired lobbyists in Washington, including several former congressional aides, as it seeks to sell products to U.S. telecoms and otherwise gain a toehold in the American market. ZTE officials have also said they want to do significant business in the United States. But large U.S. telecoms are not likely to engage the Chinese firms if U.S. officials warn against it.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the intelligence committee chairman, and Rep C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., the panel's ranking minority member, appeared on CBS's "60 Minutes" Sunday to discuss their inquiry.

"If I were an American company today, and you are looking at Huawei, I would find another vendor if you care about your intellectual property, if you care about your consumers' privacy and you care about the national security of the United States of America," Rogers said.

With $32 billion in annual revenue, Huawei is the world's largest telecommunications-equipment maker, while ZTE has $13.7 billion in revenue and is the fifth-largest. The firms specialize in technology that can be easily manipulated for electronic eavesdropping in ways that are extremely difficult to detect, the report says.

Huawei "exhibits a pattern of disregard for the intellectual property rights" of other companies, the report says, urging private companies "to consider the long-term security risks associated with doing business with either ZTE or Huawei for equipment or services."

The report was tougher on Huawei than on ZTE. It charges that "during the investigation, the committee received information from industry experts and current and former Huawei employees suggesting that Huawei, in particular, may be violating United States laws. These allegations describe a company that has not followed United States legal obligations or international standards of business behavior."

The allegations, including bribery and corruption, will be referred to the Justice Department, the report says.

Aside from those unspecified allegations, however, the unclassified version of the report does not specifically link either company to wrongdoing or spying for China. U.S. intelligence officials say China has mounted a brazen state-sponsored campaign to steal the intellectual property of American and other Western companies, often through cyberattacks that siphon information out of poorly defended computer networks.

Although the U.S. engages in extensive electronic spying, it does not undertake economic espionage, U.S. officials insist. At the same time, they contend, China has a strategy of bypassing research and development by stealing it. China denies this.

The report focuses mainly on questions neither company answered to the committee's satisfaction about ties to China, its government, and its defense and intelligence services.

Although Huawei is a private company, it receives significant support from state-owned Chinese banks that it refuses to detail, the report says. ZTE would not discuss its work for Chinese military and intelligence services, the report says.

At a September hearing of the intelligence committee, both companies denied that they would do anything improper on behalf of China.

[CountDeMoney]

What I found interesting--and not surprising at all--from the CBS piece was how the future of our entire telecommunications backbone--like so much other critical infrastructure--rests entirely on foreign companies.

Steve Kroft: Were there any American companies that bid on this?

Craig Mock: I don't know of any American companies that makes this equipment.

About the only real U.S. competitor Huawei has left is Cisco, which is still a worldwide player, but doesn't produce all the equipment necessary to construct a 4G network. The only companies that do are all foreign: Huawei, Ericsson, which is Swedish, and the French company Alcatel-Lucent.

Jim Lewis: That's where we've ended up. We now depend entirely on foreign suppliers. Three European, two Chinese. No Americans.

Steve Kroft: The United States used to dominate this field.

Jim Lewis: Yeah it's true. You know, I guess we just were asleep at the switch.

Steve Kroft: What happened?

Jim Lewis: Some of it was just bad planning at the company level. Some of it was a lack of attention by the government. I mean, we would not have let the space industry go out of business. We would not say, "Oh, we'll depend on foreign companies to launch our satellites." But we didn't do that for telecom.

The answer is even easier:  foreign companies are usually cheaper.  I BLAME UNIONS

[Jacob]

Interview with Mo Yan, winner of the nobel prize for literature: http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2011/januaryfebruary/conversation/the-real-mo-yan

I liked this exchange:

LEACH: I'm told you wrote this wonderful book, which is entitled Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out in forty-two days with a brush instead of a computer. Would it have been different if you had written it with a computer?

MO YAN: ... Another reason I wrote is that I heard that people's handwriting, especially that of famous people, could be worth a lot of money in the future. So I'm going to leave this for my daughter. Maybe she can get some money.