China Engaged in ‘Mass Surveillance’ on Americans’ Mobile Phones, Report Finds

By Cathy He December 17, 2020 Updated: December 18, 2020

The Chinese regime exploited vulnerabilities in the global mobile telecommunications network to conduct “mass surveillance” on Americans, according to a recent report by a cyber research firm.  By analyzing signals data, the report by Washington-based Exigent Media found that Beijing, working through state-owned telecom operator China Unicom, was the leading source of attacks against U.S. mobile users over 3G and 4G networks in 2018.

The regime exploited well-known network vulnerabilities, which allowed it to track, monitor, disrupt, and intercept communications of U.S. phone subscribers while they traveled abroad. The vulnerabilities are centered around the legacy mobile SS7 signaling system, described in the report as “a patchwork system enabling network operators around the world to communicate with each other for international roaming services.”

The Chinese cyberattacks targeted tens of thousands of U.S. mobile users from 2018 to 2020, Gary Miller, the report’s author and a former mobile network security executive, told The Guardian...........To Read More....

Google Widens War With China On the Future

By Benny Avni , Special to the Sun | May 23, 2019

Google this week moved to restrict Huawei’s access to its Android operating system and apps. The big-tech tiff is also a major escalation in a war to determine which form of government will dominate our future.

Here’s the big-picture question behind the current cyber battles: If innovation and superiority in smart industries define global economic prowess, can a country that limits its population’s access to the Internet win?

Under President Xi, Beijing has made an aggressive push to dominate cyber. China is no longer the manufacturer of cheap, cute gizmos. Nor is it any longer merely a technology copycat, either.

Amazon innovators often nervously glance at their Chinese competitor, Alibaba, and at times borrow marketing ideas from Jack Ma’s shop, just as his Alibaba, er, borrows tricks from them.

Huawei’s chief, Ren Zhengfei, tried to allay his customers’ fears about Google’s move. His “What, me worry?” act carries some weight. Sure, being cut off from the Android system will hurt Huawei, but Ren’s company didn’t become the world’s second largest manufacturer of smartphones by mere chance. A force to reckon with, Huawei is big, advanced, and innovative.........To Read More....

Sting Rays: A Secret Catalogue of Government Gear for Spying on Your Cellphone

Jeremy Scahill, Margot Williams

THE INTERCEPT HAS OBTAINED a secret, internal U.S. government catalogue of dozens of cellphone surveillance devices used by the military and by intelligence agencies. The document, thick with previously undisclosed information, also offers rare insight into the spying capabilities of federal law enforcement and local police inside the United States.  The catalogue includes details on the Stingray, a well-known brand of surveillance gear, as well as Boeing “dirt boxes” and dozens of more obscure devices that can be mounted on vehicles, drones, and piloted aircraft. Some are designed to be used at static locations, while others can be discreetly carried by an individual. They have names like Cyberhawk, Yellowstone, Blackfin, Maximus, Cyclone, and Spartacus. Within the catalogue, the NSA is listed as the vendor of one device, while another was developed for use by the CIA, and another was developed for a special forces requirement. Nearly a third of the entries focus on equipment that seems to have never been described in public before.....To Read More....