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Most of the world's electronics are made in China...can we continue to trust our tools?
We now know that either the Chinese government, or a very large privately-funded clandestine operation from Asia, has been hacking Western governments, intelligence agencies, and businesses for a decade. What if the hardware they produce also has secret backdoors or comes pre-infested with trojan viruses?
The story on IT World lays down some pretty chilling precedents: did you know that Chinese intelligence agents approach business men at trade fairs in the UK and offer 'gifts' of digital cameras that come with viruses on them? What if the Chinese government has gotten to hardware manufacturers -- what if your Xbox 360 comes with a backdoor in it that lets them snoop on your home network? How about a chip on your motherboard or graphics card that phones home?
It's an interesting idea, made all the more scary because it's believable. For now, as far as we know, it's just espionage, an attack on governments and businesses -- but when will be the targets?
A vast amount of technology originates from China and Taiwan, and that's not going to stop soon -- if China's grasp is inescapable, why bother worrying?
And even then, is there even a way we can combat it?
Comments
38
Subscribe to commentsnomi49Feb 6th 2010 11:07PM
Coudn't disagree more. Google is a bigger threat as stealing every bit of your info without letting you know. From what brand of toilet paper you use to what color of shirt you were wearing on Jack's engagement party. Everything is being tapped and before the devil knows it could be online. You don't care about it? but I really do.
China is not making all your hardware but Google is running already on all of your machines you own today. :)
You can avoid chinese hackers with proper security measures but how you going to avoid this invisible thief.
acmeFeb 6th 2010 6:42PM
tin foil hat: proudly assembled in the US of A
smgbblrtukmhndlFeb 6th 2010 8:17PM
I know what I'm going to do. The same thing i was going tp do anyways; what my mom always goodness to do; buy the best I can afford.
And as a Google, Android, and Fujitsu fanboy, I certainly have no shame on calling it superior technology.
http://www.google.com/m?gl=ca&client=ms-android-htc&source=android-browser-key&hl=en&q=fujitsu+android&resnum=1&ei=Rw9uS5C-L5iqgAez_qjeAQ&sa=X&oi=revisions_inline&ct=revision&cd=1
JamesFeb 6th 2010 8:21PM
Remember back in the 60s and 70s, when everybody thought McCarthy was on a "witch hunt", and was paranoid, bordering on crazy, thinking he was surrounded by Red spies on all sides? He was portrayed in all sorts of media as a crackpot (and still is by some far-left idiots). Then we started to learn that hey, actually Soviet Russia *did* have a massive spy network throughout every level of Washington (see for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Soviet_agents_in_the_United_States). It's still true: you're not paranoid if they really *are* out to get you.
astrotoysevenFeb 6th 2010 8:52PM
it isn't just electronics. Id like to see what would happen to western economies if China/Chinese companies pulled out of US/UK etc markets
SugarDaddyFeb 6th 2010 11:06PM
I'm all about drumming up concerns for everything China. I think the US should have taken measures long ago to protect US labor from the near slave labor in China. Many Chinese products that come over here are unsafe and unregulated. Just in the past year I can think of at least 3 instances where Chinese products were tainted resulting in poisoned pets, men and children. I don't think it's unreasonable at all to assume that if a Chinese national was put in charge of a manufacturing plant for chips in China that he wouldn't bend to the will of the Chinese government and sneak back doors into hardware. They have a seriously sophisticated operation for infiltrating western governments and companies. And because of the way their government is run, it's all very legal for them.
So sure this is a bit on the conspiratorial side of thinking, but if we can imagine this going on, don't you think the diabolical minds in the chinese government have thought of it and possibly taken steps to implement it? All I'm saying is that we need to protect our own national interests and stop selling of this country wholesale to the highest bidder.
bjsguessFeb 7th 2010 3:50AM
This isn't paranoia. For those that believe that Chinese leadership is benevolent or benign think again. China has been infiltrating US Technology for decades now. Seems like every few months another story leaks out about a Chinese spy that is caught at a sensitive Defense Department contractor.
And while I don't agree that the Chinese are going to come after us in the consumer market, I find the attitudes on this post bizarre. Most people are saying, "Whatever, they'll just find pictures of me and my friends" or "They can read my email if they want." And yet, I bet these same people were going crazy when they heard that targeted individuals might be monitored by the FBI as part of the Patriot Act. Chinese monitoring me = no big deal. FBI monitoring suspicious people = worst thing that has ever happened to civil liberties.
For the record, my views on the Chinese are not at all different than my views of the US Gov't. Of course, we have spies working in China. Of course, we would try to sabotage Chinese industry if it was to our strategic advantage. I doubt the Chinese are doing ANYTHING that we also aren't trying to do to them.
@marun2 on TwitterFeb 7th 2010 6:36AM
Agree very much with this article! Sometime back I read an article in alternet "Is someone in China reading your emails"? http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/119064/is_someone_in_china_reading_your_emails/?page=1 From that time onwards I have felt sure all hardware manufactured in China have been 'bugged' to transmit information like keystrokes, screenshots, etc. to a hidden central location. It is perfectly possible with the state of current technology. If it is possible, then it must have been done already. Syllogism-> So it must have been done already, somewhere, by someone.
sitrucFeb 7th 2010 4:32PM
"Most of the world's electronics are made in China...can we continue to trust our tools?"
No.
darwinsurvivorFeb 7th 2010 8:38PM
God I love paranoid people with little information. The article image shows an X-Box, made in China and programmed by Microsoft.
China has indeed attacked large corporations and governement (through software). Microsoft has a long track record of putting backdoors, hidden DRM, monitoring tools and kill-switches into Windows. Guess what the X-Box runs? Windows (I'm not joking)!
So basically, you are buying a locked down product, programmed by a company known to implement software-level drm/backdoors/killswitches into their consumer products, and you're worried about a generic microchip manufactured in a Chinese sweatshop?!?
This just keeps getting better and better...
Sebastian AnthonyFeb 7th 2010 9:11PM
You understand that it's possible to put 'backdoor software' on, for example, the network interface? On a hardware/chip level?
darwinsurvivorFeb 7th 2010 9:33PM
@Sebastian Anthony
I wasn't saying it's not possible, but that the chances are about 200 times higher that Microsoft (who routinely goes after consumers) is spying on you than China (who mainly go after activists/corporations/governments).
If china was going to spy on someone, it would be through the weapons trades they have with the US. And yes, that one has been brought up in the past.
blasztaFeb 7th 2010 11:19PM
@darwinsurvior
The intentions are very different. (If) MS put monitoring tools, or back doors are to monitor whether you're using their product illegally.
But chinese spy targeting not only activists/corporations/governments or weapon, their target is technology in general.. including your paper/dissertation.
darwinsurvivorFeb 8th 2010 2:58AM
@blaszta
I don't care *what* the intention is, would you put up with Sharp installing a webcam in your home theater system that monitored your families activites 24/7 so they could make sure you were not watching downloaded content on their TV's? Because that is exactly what some of the DRM system Microsoft installed do.
Any intrusion into my privacy, no matter how small or what it's "intentions" is a *very* serious threat that I take *very* seriously.
EelkonioFeb 8th 2010 4:00AM
Wow, wonderful addition to the "Conspiracy Today" newspaper.
Don't you think that this kind of communication would be intercepted by hackers on all parts of the Earth? When any electronic machine arrives on the market, the first thing that happens is that it's disected by hackers.
I still believe that aliens from Alpha Centaury have infiltrated our computer networks and use them to send secret messages around. Like some of us humans use the power sockets as a computer network, they use our entire communication network for their advanced intelligence. Perhaps to map and store star charts for their intergalactic navigation.
Oh yes.
ChuckFeb 9th 2010 6:30PM
Wasn't this the storyline of Disney's "G-Force" movie??
shortpaw49Feb 11th 2010 10:51AM
James (#24)
For the sake of clarity, would you be referring to the discredited Senator from WI, Joe McCarthy, who died in 1957? (The "McCarthy Era" in the USA occurred from 1950 to roughly 1954, when McCarthy was censured by the US Senate.) Or is your intent to cite the disputed entry re soviet espionage in Wikipedia?
Either way, the sordid legacy of "Tailgunner Joe" has little to do with the subject at hand.
KazikFeb 12th 2010 4:28PM
At http://www.ProductFrom.com one can check the origin of products. There are informations about 900 items now, but let's hope that it will increase soon.
And looking at "Country" section - over 50% products are marked as "Made in China".