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Report: Chinese Tech Firms Should Be Viewed With Suspicion, Barred From U.S. Networks

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posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 04:29 PM
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Report: Chinese Tech Firms Should Be Viewed With Suspicion, Barred From U.S. Networks





Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. should be viewed with “suspicion,” according to a report released by the House intelligence committee, due to concerns that their network equipment could help the Chinese government spy on U.S. communications or engage in cyberwarfare. The two companies should be barred from access to any sensitive U.S. networks and from acquiring other U.S. firms, the 52-page report says, according to the Los Angeles Times, which obtained an advance look at the report.



(Source)

Report: Chinese Tech Firms Should Be Viewed With Suspicion, Barred From U.S. Networks


Other links:

latimes.com



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 04:30 PM
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This is amazing.

Our Government is warning company's from doing business with them. I thought this was telling.

From source:


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




It seems that ANYONE can be bought off, for a few dollars nowadays. I believe with all the cyber security problems coming out of China, we need to be even more diligent as a Country,when it comes to China.


ATS, Thoughts?



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 04:42 PM
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My first inclination is to agree with the warnings.

My second inclination is to assume that we are already being spied on and all our networks are open to cyberwarfare from within, for purposes of control, and even for false flag operations. Perhaps our government hates competition....?

I suppose the enemy we know is less threatening than the one we do not.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 04:46 PM
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Originally posted by FissionSurplus
My first inclination is to agree with the warnings.

My second inclination is to assume that we are already being spied on and all our networks are open to cyberwarfare from within, for purposes of control, and even for false flag operations. Perhaps our government hates competition....?

I suppose the enemy we know is less threatening than the one we do not.






You might be right, actually. But I believe this is more for the purpose of China actually trying, if not, controlling our Internet, and sensitive data. China has no problem "copying" anything, and everything. Barring them from US Networks, is huge, for them. They are big players, in China, and the World.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 05:02 PM
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I agree everyone from Wall Street, to Banking and Finance, to online retaliers to the defense networks should not be using anything Chinese made.

If nothing is done to stop the practice that opens an easier door to hacking, and could bring this nation to its knees in the matter of minutes.

If China did not have such a long history of stealing western technology.wouldn't have a problem with it.

Handing China the "keys to the kingdom" is suicidal.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 05:02 PM
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reply to post by sonnny1
 


China should pimp their business elsewhere. I have too much junk that says "made in China" as it is.

They don't need to invade our cyber space. I think that should go for all foreign entities that wish to put their software in our computer networks. I'm one of those strange people who thinks that, perhaps, we should give preference to American companies when it comes to security. It may not be fool-proof, but the idealism of "made in America" appeals to me.

There are certain segments of America that shouldn't be for sale, and our online security is one of them.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 05:13 PM
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reply to post by FissionSurplus
 


China obviously has an agenda, and not only one, that is composed of making money.

Its Obvious.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 05:20 PM
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Well played on this one... Hmm...

First, great source on this Sonnny. Wired is one of the sources I respect and until recently had a subscription to for years. I catch it all online now. However, they're solid and largely unbiased as they are in this one. They lay out all sides..but don't really take a stand either way politically which I'm happy to see because on this one I gotta disagree with you a bit. The reason is partially related to things you couldn't have known as factors and I happen to be in the right place to see.

I read this as Cisco playing dirty through Uncle to slam out the Chinese networking from a market Cisco is coming to call their very own as much as Microsoft does on Operating systems or Wal-Mart has come to be the retail defacto in the real world for many many areas.

When starting College I was in the Networking program first and just in time for the big transition the school made from a general and diverse networking education base to one 100% and entirely taught to, literally, the Cisco way and Cisco standards with Cisco material for a general system they developed. They've come to so totally dominate areas of the market, they literally ARE the market for students graduating out of Cisco system colleges. (even I use a Cisco commercial grade router at home...and the best I've ever had too
)

I just checked on opensecrets/org and Cisco is definitely not Apolitical either. 2012 has their contribution funding favoring democrats 2:1. In 2010, it was Republican favorite....totally opposite in 2008 and back to hedging Republicans in 2004 on a fairly even split between them. They obviously play politics close and by the direction the wind is blowing election to election. Pretty lucky so far too.

Why focus on Cisco? Security is no reason beyond the public who wouldn't have time or need to learn more about all this.

However, just a few years back it was revealed the NSA had backdoor arrangements into Windows of all things and your article mentioned the standing U.S. Federal Law for allowing wiretap access including how it extends now to Internet hardware. So............ The idea that their Automatic updating feature to their own FIRMware (Programming on the chipsets...and an advanced thing (Read: Not recommended) for normal people to do) is a security risk is stupid. If it wasn't an auto update it would be an IT update and that sort of an update isn't the kind of thing that gets torn up and dissected normally anyway. It's FROM the people who made the device to UPDATE the device itself.

So...I'd call the security aspect as a whole a red herring..and the ONLY real beneficiary here is Cisco..and looking at how China can really change a market by economy of numbers alone, Cisco benefits huge by the lockout this caused and general air of 'eeeeeehh...maybe not' for using future things not American (Read:Cisco) made on networking. Well played indeed. -Tips Hat to Cisco- ..In my opinion.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 05:32 PM
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reply to post by sonnny1
 


I actually heard about this today on the local news. One of these firms operates here in the Dallas, Texas area and employs @600 people. I've heard reports in the past that their servers turn on when nobody is around and start sending large blocks of data directly to....China!

I think this is a legit threat based on what I've heard so far.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 05:34 PM
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reply to post by Wrabbit2000
 


Thanks Wrabbit for giving us a "techie" viewpoint on this. My biggest concerns were this though, regardless if Cisco, is playing a huge part behind the scenes.



“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.

Though Huawei claims to be a privately owned company, the Communist Party Committee maintains offices inside the company’s headquarters in China, according to 60 Minutes.


That's damning, in my eyes. I don't think the committee was asking for anything, but cooperation.

Also......


Asked by correspondent Steve Kroft if Huawei would spy on U.S. telecommunications if the Chinese government asked them to, Jim Lewis, senior fellow and director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, “Here [in the U.S.], companies are used to, you know, throwing their weight around and telling the government what to do. In China, a company is a Chia pet. The state tells them what to do, and they do it.”


BTW, Our Government has illegally spied on its citizens........I cant deny that, and neither should anyone.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 05:37 PM
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Originally posted by seabag


I think this is a legit threat based on what I've heard so far.



As do I.

China's agenda, is getting to be an open affair.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 05:44 PM
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Originally posted by sonnny1

Originally posted by seabag


I think this is a legit threat based on what I've heard so far.



As do I.

China's agenda, is getting to be an open affair.


What's interesting to note here is that if this was an American company operating in China and suspected of "spying" the employees would be dragged into the streets and executed by firing squad.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 07:53 PM
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I actually heard about this today on the local news. One of these firms operates here in the Dallas,
reply to post by seabag
 


That sounds like AlixPartners. They have 600 employees in Dallas, and recently opened an office in Shanghai. They are a corporate restructuring company, which is a euphemism for "we'll outsource your employees to China".



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 08:21 PM
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Why are foreign nationals allowed to lobby our elected officials?

Are we to hell yet? This handbasket is getting mighty crowded.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 08:33 PM
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I could be missing a great deal...then again, I could be a little distracted on Chinese tech matters at the moment. The excitement over the GAI report must have been while I was sleeping because I've not seen it mentioned but...


The website Obama.com was purchased by an Obama bundler based in Shanghai, China, with questionable ties to state-run enterprises

68% of the traffic to Obama.com is foreign, and the site was linked to a specific donation page on the official BarackObama.com campaign website for ten months
Source

THIS Government is complaining about Chinese companies making routers? Sorry.. couldn't resist. That report came out today.. I notice this story today... Oh. it's too much sometimes.


Now, seriously and back to topc. The L.A. times article is it's usual vague and detail thin self but Wired went into a bit more about what the accusations supposedly are. What I read was that the devices were geared to allow their company servers to trigger the update of firmware from remote and without the initiation of the customer side.

Like I said on that point, most normal folk don't know what Firmware IS, let alone how to update it...and among IT? Well.. Depends... I've listened to the rants of more than one person who I thought were well experienced...and just bricked a router or phone with a firmware update because simple directions eluded them. To have it set up automatically is almost something to thank them for. The thing is.... Even if it wasn't automatic (and here is the point) firmware is routinely aquired and flashed to the device without paying THAT much attention security wise, regardless. What threat? If it's a threat, the people who made it are...because both come from the same company. I know that's the point of the article, but that is also the BASIS which makes a circle of logic here I could get dizzy with.

If there was more..or anything really, I'd change my opinion prehaps..but even the LA times article states they had no actual evidence or clear indication of anything, whatsoever. The company guys just handled it badly or weren't quick enough? I don't see anything else cited for any basis here? What did Beijing do to piss us off recently? Was this a message back perhaps?

As to the Chinese Government... Someone here may know better, but I was under the impression that under China's Kinda free market/Kinda communist system, they owned a part of ALL business inside the national borders? Now I could be totally off on that...I'm going by memories of documentaries and half recalled book info.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 09:03 PM
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Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
Why are foreign nationals allowed to lobby our elected officials?

Are we to hell yet? This handbasket is getting mighty crowded.



More importantly, why are AMERICANS "helping" these foreign entities?


Judases, all of them.



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 09:07 PM
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reply to post by sonnny1
 


I remember Ford suing because the Chinese were stealing corporate secrets a while back also anybody here remember when China got caught red handed stealing sensitive Missile tech and Billy Boy Clinton turned a blind eye?

Yup Yup




posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 09:11 PM
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reply to post by SLAYER69
 


I rememba..............




China stole design information regarding the United States' seven most advanced thermonuclear weapons.
These stolen secrets enabled the PLA to accelerate the design, development and testing of its own nuclear weapons.
China's next generation of nuclear weapons would contain elements of stolen U.S. design information and would be comparable in effectiveness to the weapons used by the United States.
Small warheads based on stolen U.S. information could be ready for deployment in 2002 also enabling China to integrate MIRV technology on its next generation of missiles.
These thefts were not isolated incidents, but rather the results of decades of intelligence operations against U.S. weapons laboratories conducted by the Ministry of State Security. In addition, the report described the illegal activity likely persisted despite new security measures implemented as a result of the scandal.



Cox Report



posted on Oct, 8 2012 @ 11:43 PM
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Originally posted by neo96


Handing China the "keys to the kingdom" is suicidal.



I Think handing the keys, to any Nation, when it comes to security and infrastructure, is suicidal.

China has bad intentions, its been proven.



posted on Oct, 9 2012 @ 12:21 AM
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Originally posted by sonnny1

Originally posted by neo96


Handing China the "keys to the kingdom" is suicidal.



I Think handing the keys, to any Nation, when it comes to security and infrastructure, is suicidal.

China has bad intentions, its been proven.

You know, if they want to make that across the board and a universal approach then I will agree on the routers and all. It's a fair point if that is actually the point. Among folks here, I'm sure it is and so, we don't really disagree in principle.

In reality, our weapons have People's Republic as well as Republic of (Taiwan) chips all through them and going back generations worth of hardware. If China is up to no good and wants to put it to us, I'd say all they'd need to do is infiltrate (walk up and say Hire Me Please!) to a chip shop or another tech plant scattered all over the China's and the greater Asian region. So many ways to skin a cat...or if espionage IS the point, here is a thought. (which should have occurred to Congress type folks..)

If I were writing code for a router and wanted it to do nasty things without advertising it's dirty deeds, I'd never ever have it become active when it wasn't already or significantly pick up on the traffic stream. I mean being busted on this just once is curtains for the whole thing if it's deliberate right? Who knows what environments these end up in or how obscenely tight monitoring would be for the stuff they make work. I mean if we think through what they are suggesting is happening.

Personally, I'd write it with a buffer buried down deep somewhere that filters out what needs sent a few packets at a time, over time. So.. excuse my techie side...but it just doesn't pass the sniffer test from that perspective.


If only they'd been even a fraction this diligent when the Chinese were having late night parties as members of Los Alamos.




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