Chinese Hackers Hit U.S. Firms Linked to South China Sea Dispute

[Sgent]

Source: Bloomberg

Chinese hackers have launched a wave of attacks on mainly U.S. engineering and defense companies linked to the disputed South China Sea, the cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc. said.

The suspected Chinese cyber-espionage group dubbed TEMP.Periscope appeared to be seeking information that would benefit the Chinese government, said FireEye, a U.S.-based provider network protection systems. The hackers have focused on U.S. maritime entities that were either linked to -- or have clients operating in -- the South China Sea, said Fred Plan, senior analyst at FireEye in Los Angeles.

“They are going after data that can be used strategically, so it is line with state espionage,” said Plan, whose firm has tracked the group since 2013. “A private entity probably wouldn’t benefit from the sort of data that is being stolen.”

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The U.S. indicted five Chinese military officials in 2014 on charges that they stole trade secrets from companies including Westinghouse Electric Co. and United States Steel Corp. after hacks were detected by Mandiant, a unit of FireEye. China denies the charges and argues the country is a victim rather than an instigator of cybersecurity attacks.



Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-16/china-hackers-hit-u-s-firms-linked-to-sea-dispute-fireeye-says

[Civic Justice]

1. We spin too fast and try to do it cheaply

We lag in General Society Used Technology, no matter what the media says.

Even in Super Computing, China has (5) Supercomputers.
https://www.cnet.com/news/china-surpasses-us-in-supercomputer-usage-on-top-500-list/

We were nearly last on the list to move from iPv 4 / Japan and South Korea has been streaming content far ahead of us and have worked out to make their efficient and functional.

We UNDERSTAFF Everything !!!! and then we OVER PAY the executives who oversee it. We FAIL to fund anything properly, for trying to pay people based on "fiction of popularity", when they are incompetent to do the job, and become invested in their ego and stifle the job until it drag along like a snail someone has poured salt upon.

It's no wonder "everything gets hacked". ....

As long as we remain hung up living on fiction and flutter of media publicity madness, anything and everything can and eventually will be compromised.


We departed from being a nation where the workers were valued,respected and the communities that make up the nations was important, to being a nation that only focus on "University Degree Labels" and "Executive Titles'...

[ancianita]

2. While it's the awful 'austerity' part of our pay scales and the degree titles hierarchy, it's also

our aged systems.

This government never did two things regularly or well: first, upgraded our operating systems; second, completely changed operating system platforms when the old one became a target of advanced persistent threat.

We invented the systems being used against us. There should be no reason this government's people can't better school our private sector which, in turn, should pay higher taxes for that service.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

3. We also punish thoroughness in work.

Thoroughness, exceptional skill, and pride of work are seen as inefficiencies. Many times, competence is resented. What a change in my lifetime.

...............

[Civic Justice]

6. I certainly agree to the two commentators.

People resist change, and often we don't "invest to modernize".

Example: (Broad) When Environment regulations came to California after the Smog Mess of the 1970's, Many companies packed up and "left" California, because they did not want to invest in "modernizing to meet the standards". They moved to State that did not promote nor enforce higher standards. It was the silliest thing, because the cost to move whole manufacturing to another states, was a big cost, when it would have been more efficient to "upgrade to meet the standards" and be ahead of the curve.

Also when it comes to "technology"... there is no justifiable reasons, that "companies" cannot have "independent browsers" that access the "INTRANET" they have. Today, we have systems that run "dual operating systems", as well as we still have the capability of having "hard lock out" between the use of specific browsers. Why would it be possible for anyone to "hack into our power grid" or "our military strategic and intelligence systems". These things, should have "special access portals".
I known when things are transmitted wireless, that has to have some % of fail, built into it, but not knowing the high level of tech, I'm certain we have "smart people" who can figure it out.

I've seen large scale operations, with "one network administrator on shift". "that is absurd, but they have the concept they are safe, or as the old saying goes "it won't happen here".

We never hear about the masses of hacking, and when we do hear about it, its months later.

It's like the venerability that I read about not long ago, where there was something like a "back door" in chips, and here we are... "having such things built in China and any other place where we can get something for next to nothing"...

American's Biggest Problem is that this nations was raised and nursed on Slavery, and Indentured Servititude, and it has never had the "respect to Pay People Sufficiently", especially not the working people. Today, CEO and Executives, pay themselves in the same concept as Slave Owners Paid themselves. All for them, and next to nothing for the people actually doing the work.

I've never understood why any "Publicly Traded" Company would pay CEO at the rate they do, and then have the audacity to given them millions and millions of shares of the company. NO PERSON HIRED SHOULD BE COMPENSATED TO THAT DEGREE. They did not create the company, and certainly we've seen nothing but a mass of companies crashed and destroyed by CEO decisions, then we go into absurdity and allow the CEO to become Chairman of the Board. In such cases, why even have a board.
I've seen cases where the CEO was listed as Company President, AND Chairman of the Board.

Some are beginning to take a serious look at CEO pay. "We should do the same" and put caps, and we should "ELIMINATE STOCK OPTIONS FOR CEO'S AND EXECUTIVES".... The overly expensive Perks are also an absurdity.

It's a joke 'talking about its necessary to keep talent". No person, within a matter of Minutes, can perform or do anythings, that justifies that level of pay. The people classified as employees in the jobs within a company do all the actual work. It's not that difficult to make a decision, when a person has multiple people compiling data, that speaks for itself. And certainly NO CEO should make ANY COMPANY DECISIONS BASED ON "STOCK TICKER" VALUATION. When stocks trade at 300+ and Higher time the companies ability to perform. It is globally known that "speculation" has overtaken the origins of why the Stock Market was Created and Why Quarterly Reporting was done. It was to give information about the "actual production and sales performance of the company"... It was not about "breaking some record every quarter", or "every quarter trying to break the record of the previous quarter"... That's a madness that is designed for disaster.

When it comes to Technology, many companies run skeleton crews, with outdated tools and outdated systems. Greed and Delusional Mismanagement and CEO's and CFO worried about Stock Holder, rather than being invested in concerns about the Company. IF we ever could get back to promoting the principle that the Stock Market is based on LONG TERM investors, for the sake of STABILITY, QUALITY STANDARDS, AND WELL MANAGED GROWTH, AND EMPLOYEE RELATIONS, then we would not have our Industrial Public system, in the hands and whims of "speculators and overzealous trading". Trading stocks does not produce the product or the service, its the work of the people, the quality of the product and level of standards that are maintained and sustained, THROUGHOUT the company.

We've moved everything we can to tech function, with such a broken system at the top... it is a open door for calamity. And this madness of how the Stock Tickers is the decision maker, that crash and destroy companies on a daily basis.

[Farmer-Rick]

4. Isn't that special.......no not really

So now both China and Russia are attacking us through their militarized hacking farms. Thank god our critical infrastructure like ports aren't owned by hostile foreign powers....

Capitalism turned security into a commodity. So now security is the last thing a corporation will pay for. Seems the new war is being done on the Internet and we are unarmed.

[Firestorm49]

5. Covert?

One aspect of all of the hacking revelations that we hear little to nothing about is our abilities to wage a counter effort when the time is right. Don’t kid yourself, we’re not behind the curve. Our intelligence communities are certainly armed and ready. The degree of foreign cyber influence we are witnessing in the open will certainly be matched and surpassed by abilities that we have, but remain cloaked. No matter occupies the Oval Office, our intelligence community is still on the job.