ccp - X-Industry - Red Sky Alliance2024-03-28T14:32:14Zhttps://redskyalliance.org/xindustry/feed/tag/ccpChina Pursues ‘Brain Control’https://redskyalliance.org/xindustry/china-pursues-brain-control2022-01-04T19:54:24.000Z2022-01-04T19:54:24.000ZBill Schenkelberghttps://redskyalliance.org/members/BillSchenkelberg<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9982049484,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9982049484,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="250" alt="9982049484?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a>Humanoid robot called “Jia Jia” was created by a team of engineers from the University of Science and Technology of China and was presented at a conference in Shanghai at the beginning of 2017. Jia Jia can hold a simple conversation and make specific facial expressions when asked, and her creator believes the eerily lifelike robot heralds a future of cyborg labor in China. This was five years ago and was billed as China’s first human-like robot. 2022 - The Brave New World is in full force. </p>
<p>Jia Jia was a harmless looking robot. But what about using this same technology in military forces, both with enhancing human military behavior and actual robot troops. Imagine launching troop assaults on the battlefield with a mere human thought. The Chinese are enhancing the human brain to create “super warriors” and disrupting the minds of enemy troops to make them submit to the controller’s command. Once believed to only exist in science-fiction movies, the weaponization of the brain has been discussed by Chinese military officials for years. And Beijing is spending billions each year on neuroscience that could draw these scenarios ever closer to reality. “The study into brain science was born out of a vision for how the future warfare would evolve,” a medical researcher at a subsidiary of China’s state-run Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS), wrote in an article in 2017. Such research, he added, has “an extremely strong military characteristic” and is crucial to securing a “strategic high ground” for every country.<a href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> This researcher is not alone in stressing the urgency in militarizing brain science.</p>
<p>In March of 2021, a Chinese military run newspaper described cloud-powered artificial intelligence (AI) “integrating human and machine” as the key to winning wars. With the accelerating “intelligentization” of the military, it warned, China needs to quickly get a firm footing in this technology, and any delay “could lead to unimaginable consequences.”</p>
<p>‘Qualitative’ Advantage - According to research papers and articles in military newspapers, Chinese military officials see four areas where innovations in brain science could be weaponized. 1.) “Brain emulation” refers to the development of high-intelligence robots that function like humans. 2.) “Brain control” is the integration of humans with machines into one, allowing soldiers to perform tasks ordinarily impossible to them. 3.) “Superbrain” involves the use of electromagnetic radiation, such as infrasonic waves or ultrasound, to stimulate human brains and activate the brain’s latent potential. 4.) The fourth, termed “controlling the brain,” is about applying advanced technology to interfere with, and manipulate, how people think.</p>
<p>Two faculty members with the military-affiliated Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS) in a 2018 paper discussed their state-funded project researching a piece of biotechnology dubbed “psycho-virus.” Applied in the military, such psychological weapon could help develop “super warriors” who are “loyal, brave, and strategic;” in wars, the psycho-virus could “manipulate the consciousness of the enemies, crush their will, and interfere with their emotions to make them submit to the will of our side,” the authors said.</p>
<p>Brain scientists may also aid the recovery of handicapped soldiers and systematically elevate the health protection of military personnel, according to a 2019 article on PLA Daily, the official newspaper for the Chinese military, known as the People’s Liberation Army. While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been dedicated for years to “getting ahead of the biotechnology arms race,” the evolution of frontier technologies has brought added urgency, according to North Star Support Group (NSSG), a multinational risk management company. The “improbable futuristic technology that had been dreamed up in the past has now become more realistic in real-time,” the NSSC recently wrote. “This creates little room for error as a potential loss of dominance of such technology could potentially lead to the weakening of strategic barriers if left unchecked.”</p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9982050456,RESIZE_192X{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9982050456,RESIZE_192X{{/staticFileLink}}" width="188" alt="9982050456?profile=RESIZE_192X" /></a></p>
<table width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Figure 1. A University of Florida student uses a brain-controlled interface headset to fly a drone during a mind-controlled drone race in Gainesville, Fla., on 16 April 2016. (Jason Dearen/AP Photo)</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Concerned about Chinese activities in biotechnology, the US in December black-listed China’s AMMS, the country’s top medical research institute run by the Chinese military—and its 11 affiliated biotechnology research institutes, accusing them of developing “purported brain-control weaponry” to further the Chinese military.<a href="#_ftn2">[2]</a></p>
<p>Weeks before the move, the US Commerce Department’s Industry and Security Bureau solicited public comments about a proposed rule to ban the export of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, an emerging field that seeks to enable humans to directly communicate with an external device with just their thoughts. Such technology would provide a “qualitative military or intelligence advantage” for US adversaries, such as by “enhancing the capabilities of human soldiers, including collaboration for improved decision making, assisted-human operations, and advanced manned and unmanned military operations,” the Commerce Department said.</p>
<p><strong>‘A Matter of China’s Future’ </strong>The US has been at the forefront in the field of brain technology, with the world’s largest number of research papers published on the subject. In April 2021, Elon Musk’s neurotechnology startup Neuralink released a video showing a monkey playing computer games through a chip inserted in its brain. Synchron, a Silicon Valley developer of implantable neural interface technology, in December released seven tweets it said were sent wirelessly by an immobilized Australian patient who had received the company’s chip implant, known as Stentrode. The National Institutes of Health granted Synchron $10 million last July to help launch its first US human trial.</p>
<p>The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has also researched BCI for military applications, such as an “Avatar” project that aimed to create a semi-autonomous machine to act as the soldier’s surrogate.</p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9982050868,RESIZE_1200x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9982050868,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="250" alt="9982050868?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a></p>
<table width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Figure 2. A young woman watches a man, wearing an EEG brain scanning apparatus on his head, play a pinball game solely through willing the paddles to react with his brain at the Berlin Brain Computer Interface research consortium stand at the CeBIT Technology Fair in Hannover, Germany, on March 2, 2010. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Beijing, closely tracking the developments in America, has demonstrated itself unwilling to stay behind. In January 2020, three months before Synchron began its first trial, eastern China’s Zhejiang University had completed testing of a brain implant on a 72-year-old paralyzed patient. Using his brainwaves, the patient could direct a robotic arm to perform handshakes, fetch drinks, and play a classic Chinese board game: Mahjong.</p>
<p>Over the past six years, Beijing has come to see progress on brain-related research as “a matter of China’s future,” according to Chinese media reports. The country’s leading national scientific institution, the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has pumped around 60 billion yuan (USD$9.4 billion) annually into efforts to map out brain functions, its website shows. Last September, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology opened up applications for research into the field, with an additional 3 billion yuan (about $471 million) allocated for 59 research streams.</p>
<p>The role of brain science has been significant enough that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has identified it as a priority field of emerging technology significant for the country’s national security, and for making China a central hub for world’s cutting-edge scientific innovations. “China is closer than in any time of history to the goal of rejuvenating the Chinese nation, and we need more than any time in history to build a world science and technology superpower,” he told CAS scholars in a 2018 speech.</p>
<p><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9982054463,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="400" alt="9982054463?profile=RESIZE_400x" /><strong>Military ‘High Ground’ </strong>The Chinese regime is racing to close the gap with the United States in harnessing the power from this emerging technology. In terms of the volume of published papers on brain technology, China is second only to America, a senior engineer with state-run scientific research institute China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, said at a recent forum on BCI. That number grew at a pace of 41 percent over the period of 2016 to 2020, more than double the global average of 19 percent, according to a May report co-written by a Beijing-based AI robot manufacturer and a think tank advising Beijing on big data and AI. The stack of Chinese innovations on BCI has appeared to keep pace with the growing enthusiasm.</p>
<p>AMMS, the Chinese military academy under US sanctions, has been at the forefront of neuroscience research. Inventions from the AMMS and its affiliates since 2018 include various nerve signals collection devices, miniature skull implants, a remote monitoring system for restoring damaged nerves, and wearable augmented reality glasses designed for enhancing robot control, according to an open depository of patent applications. In 2019, the Institute of Military Medicine under AMMS created a brain-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle. To move the vehicle forward, an operator puts on an electrode cap and imagines moving their right hand. Thinking about feet movement would instruct the machine to descend.</p>
<p>Figure 3. Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers line up during military training at the Pamir Mountains in Kashgar, China, on Jan. 4, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)</p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9982052088,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9982052088,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="250" alt="9982052088?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a></p>
<table width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Figure 4. Cho Yu Ng of Hong Kong competes during the wheelchair race in Kloten, Switzerland, at the Cybathlon Championship, the first edition of an international competition organized by ETH Zurich for physically impaired athletes using bionic assistive technology, such as robotic prostheses, brain-computer interfaces, and powered exoskeletons, on Oct. 8, 2016. (Michael Buholzer/AFP via Getty Images)</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>The AMMS’ National Defence Science and Technology Innovation Research Institute in 2021 acquired a patent for using virtual reality for spacecraft docking. The device interprets the astronaut’s brain and limb activities and converts them into orders to adjust the aircraft’s position in real-time. While a sizable portion of innovations in BCI and other fields of brain technology has potential medical use, some may also be leveraged for military purposes.</p>
<p>One Chinese university previously touted unmanned combat via thought-controlled robots as a “high ground” in AI that China “must race to control.” “Witness more miracles with Chinese characteristics in strengthening the army,” proclaimed the National University of Defense Technology, a military academy that supplies talent for China’s armed forces, as it showed off a list of brain-controlled devices produced by the university, including a wheelchair and a car that could travel roughly 9.3 mph “on any road.” “Together, let’s change the world with our ‘minds,’” the school declared in a post on its website last November.</p>
<p><strong>Calls for Self-Reliance </strong>The US Commerce Department’s blocking rules may hinder or delay the regime in China in its path of advancing biotech and brain-related technologies but are unlikely to slow it down, according to a senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy and a retired US Marine colonel. “[T]he Chinese will simply maneuver a bit, change some names, and keep going full-speed ahead on these efforts to weaponize biotech,” he told media. But the sanctions serve a useful purpose at home: “making it impossible for Americans (and others) who want to invest in and partner with the Chinese organizations to claim they ‘didn’t know’ what the Chinese were doing—or to argue that ‘it isn’t prohibited,’” he added.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Chinese researchers have been focused on achieving self-sufficiency in this area. In 2019, a research team at Tianjin University in northern China unveiled a “Brain Talker” chip, which, when linked to the brain through an electrode cap, could decode a user’s mind intent and translate it into computer commands in under two seconds.</p>
<p>Fudan University, an elite public institution in Shanghai, in January 2021 presented a remote BCI chip that can be recharged wirelessly from outside the body, avoiding potential damage to the brain. The chip consumes only a tenth of the power of its Western counterparts and costs half as much, Chinese state media reported at the time. The term “self-developed” was prominently featured in both team’s announcements and media reports.</p>
<p>The associate director at CAS’ Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, said China has the potential to lead the world in the field of BCI. “China is not lagging behind foreign countries in terms of the design aspects for core BCI gear,” he wrote in a June article published on Chinese state media. He called on the country to step up resource allocation to accelerate BCI development, given the risk that the US might block BCI exports to China.</p>
<p><strong>Ethical Risks </strong>China has a unique advantage to help it gain a leg up in the race: its vast bank of non-human primates, according to a key research figure spearheading China’s brain research at CAS. China has been the world’s top supplier for test monkeys but stopped shipping them once the pandemic began. Chinese research which in 2008 switched to monkeys from mice as the test animal at his neuroscience institute at CAS, had long wanted to utilize the country’s test animal resources to boost China’s brain research standing, according to state media reports. His team in 2017 cloned the world’s first pair of monkeys using the same method that produced Dolly the Sheep—a crucial step forward for China’s brain-related research.<a href="#_ftn3">[3]</a> With the same cloning technology, Chinese scientists could mass produce, and experiment on, identical monkeys, eliminating interferences to experiments resulting from individual differences in test animals, as presented in a newspaper under CAS, in October 2021.</p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9982053493,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9982053493,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="250" alt="9982053493?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a>Figure 5. Five cloned macaques at a research institution in Shanghai are shown in a picture taken on Nov. 27, 2018, and released on Jan. 24, 2019 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience. Chinese scientists said the five monkeys were cloned from a single animal that was genetically engineered to have a sleep disorder, saying it could aid research into human psychological problems. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)</p>
<p>The AMMS has also proposed studies into building a database for an “aggressive consciousness control weapon” that targets specific spiritual or ethnic groups. Such a project was first mentioned as early as 2012 by the Institute of Radiation Medicine under AMMS. The database aimed to establish a collection of images and videos that could trigger aggressive behavior. Its proposed targets include “spiritual leaders, organizations and extreme religious groups who share the common belief, and ethnic groups who share similar traits in locations and lifestyle habits.”</p>
<p>China’s more lenient ethical bar compared to the West has provided it with more leeway to gain a foothold with their BCI-related experiments that would “greatly empower them and streamline their innovations,” according to ethics experts. In China, such experiments have “less red tape preventing them from using questionable testing practices. That makes all the difference in a world where one’s edge in technology and intelligence can depend greatly on how they manage their ability to stay ahead of the curve,” they emphasized. </p>
<p>Of note, when asked by a journalist in China to the head of BCI research, if BCI technologies may one day “enslave” humans, the Chinese scientist appeared undisturbed. “If we have the confidence that our society will be able to develop mechanisms to control the use of technologies for our benefits, then we need not worry about AI,” he told the National Science Review, a peer-reviewed journal under the auspices of CAS, in 2017. “Since the 1950s, many people have been worrying about the build-up of nuclear bombs and thought that we will soon be destroyed by a nuclear holocaust. But we still live quite well now, aren’t we?” he added. Ethically, a chilling response. </p>
<p>Red Sky Alliance is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization. We have long reported on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its many facets of globalization. Having an strong military is a key to their successes. We thank Eva Fu, who researches and writes on US/China relations for the Epoch Times. This technology makes you think hard about the future. For questions, comments or assistance, please contact the office directly at 1-844-492-7225, or <a href="mailto:feedback@wapacklabs.com">feedback@wapacklabs.com</a> </p>
<p>Weekly Cyber Intelligence Briefings:</p>
<ul>
<li>Reporting: <a href="https://www.redskyalliance.org/">https://www.redskyalliance.org/</a></li>
<li>Website: <a href="https://www.wapacklabs.com/">https://www.wapacklabs.com/</a></li>
<li>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/64265941">https://www.linkedin.com/company/64265941</a> </li>
</ul>
<p>Weekly Cyber Intelligence Briefings:</p>
<p>REDSHORTS - Weekly Cyber Intelligence Briefings</p>
<p><a href="https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3702558539639477516">https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3702558539639477516</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-pursues-brain-control-weaponry-in-bid-to-command-future-of-warfare_4186003.html/">https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-pursues-brain-control-weaponry-in-bid-to-command-future-of-warfare_4186003.html/</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-blacklist-dozens-of-chinese-biotech-firms-that-aid-military-including-for-brain-control-weaponry_4161999.html">https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-blacklist-dozens-of-chinese-biotech-firms-that-aid-military-including-for-brain-control-weaponry_4161999.html</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref3">[3]</a> <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-cloning-the-message-in-the-monkeys_2425658.html">https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-cloning-the-message-in-the-monkeys_2425658.html</a></p></div>Chinese State Hackers Using NSA Exploit Tools Against All of Ushttps://redskyalliance.org/xindustry/chinese-state-hackers-using-nsa-exploit-tools-against-all-of-us2021-03-09T16:42:18.000Z2021-03-09T16:42:18.000ZBill Schenkelberghttps://redskyalliance.org/members/BillSchenkelberg<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8646907101,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8646907101,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="250" alt="8646907101?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a>In 1980, the British comedy group Monty Python created a video, “I Like Chinese.” We all like Chinese; except the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – who train, encourage and promote active hacking of many, many counties. A Chinese hacking group allegedly "cloned" and deployed a zero-day exploit developed by the US National Security Agency's Equation Group (NSA) before Microsoft patched the Windows vulnerability that was being exploited in 2017. For several years, researchers have suspected the Chinese hacking group known as APT31 or Zirconium developed an exploit tool to take advantage of a vulnerability tracked as CVE-2017-0005 and found in older versions of Windows, such as Windows 7 and Windows 8. </p>
<p>Check Point research recently reported how the Chinese hacking group allegedly stole, cloned and then exploited a zero-day vulnerability created by the Equation Group, which is widely believed to be tied to the NSA's elite Tailored Access Operations Team. The report also raises additional questions about how some of the NSA's most prized cyber weapons have been discovered or stolen by nation-state hacking groups and then turned on their developers over the years. In May 2019, Symantec published a similar report that found another group of hackers had stolen and exploited cyber tools developed by the NSA.</p>
<p>Both the Symantec and Check Point research show that the theft of NSA Equation Group tools by these groups appears to have happened before the hacking group, known as the Shadow Brokers, first began publishing the agency's exploits in 2016. The 2016 Shadow Brokers leak provided a preview of future possible implications that a cyber theft can cause.<a href="#_ftn1">[1]</a></p>
<p>Many important questions remain - could this have also happened before? And who is behind it and what did they use it for?" Researchers write in the report. "Our recent research aims to shed more light on this topic, and reveal conclusive evidence that such a leak did actually take place years before the Shadow Brokers leak, resulting in US developed cyber tools reaching the hands of a Chinese group which repurposed them in order to attack US targets." An NSA spokesperson declined to comment on the report in February 2021.</p>
<p>The latest report by Check Point not only shows the dangers of what happens when the NSA's tools are stolen by nation-state hacking groups, but also the flaws with the Vulnerabilities Equities Process, a US government program that discloses software vulnerabilities to vendors so they can be patched, says the chair of Indiana University's cybersecurity program. "The Biden administration would be well advised to take a fresh look at the US Vulnerabilities Equities Process created by the Obama administration, particularly the role played by the NSA in weighing how and when to disclose discovered vulnerabilities back to vendors. The Trump administration's decision to give the NSA a larger role in Vulnerabilities Equities Process, in particular, seems to have been ill-advised."</p>
<p>Security research previously noted that the APT31 hacking group first developed a zero-day exploit for CVE-2017-0005, called "Jian," in 2014 and initially deployed it in 2015. The exploit was used for two years before Microsoft finally issued a patch for it in 2017. If exploited, this bug could allow an attacker to escalate privileges within a compromised device and then gain full control, the researchers note. Microsoft published its patch for CVE-2017-0005 in March 2017, when the company was forced to issues multiple fixes for the exploits related to the Shadow Brokers' "Lost in Translation" leak. A further investigation by Check Point found that Jian was not an original creation, but a clone of a zero-day exploit for older versions of Windows developed by the NSA Equation Group in 2013 and originally called "EpMe" by the agency, according to the current report.<a href="#_ftn2">[2]</a></p>
<p>Researcher show that the APT31 hackers gained access to both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the EpMe exploit more than two years before the Shadow Brokers leak become public in 2016. A module within the exploit that had similarities to DanderSpritz, a modular post-exploitation framework created by the NSA Equation Group that contains dozens of interdependent modules, according to the Check Point report. This framework also contained several zero-day exploits that targeted Windows and other Microsoft products. This includes EpMe, which is similar to Jian, as well as another zero-day exploit called "EpMo," which Microsoft patched in May 2017, although the company didn't assign a CVE number to the vulnerability. </p>
<p>One researcher notes that when APT31 copied that EpMe code, the hackers did not realize that the exploit had certain limitations. Jian contains several code snippets that show that its developer was not fully aware of the nature and limitations of the exploited vulnerability, such as trying to support Windows 2000 which is not even vulnerable. The researchers went on to say, "This Windows 2000 support makes sense in Equation Group's exploit as it is a shared module with another Equation Group exploit EpMo, which supports this Windows version. The futile attempt of Jian to support Windows 2000 looks like a classic case of copying code without fully understanding how it works and if it is even necessary."</p>
<p>What is not clear is how APT31 first obtained the source code for EpMe that it eventually refashioned into Jian. There are several possibilities, including that APT31 captured the exploit code during an Equation Group network operation on a Chinese target, or the hackers found an Equation Group operation on a third-party network, which was also being monitored by Chinese intelligence, according to the researchers. A third possibility, although more remote, is that the Chinese hackers found the zero-day exploit during an attack on Equation Group infrastructure. </p>
<p>A professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, notes that when it comes to cyberespionage, these types of incidents are likely to keep happening since any exploit can be captured and studied by those it targets. "In reality, the Chinese group did the cyber equivalent of copying a movie or music file. Attacks and exploits are different from physical weapons. They are just bits on a wire, and anyone can copy them and reuse them," the professor said. "Every time the US uses an exploit, they are potentially showing others a new unknown to them capability. Similarly, every time Russia hacks the US, we may learn a new exploit."</p>
<p>It is also not clear which organizations APT31 may have targeted using the Jian exploit. The Check Point report notes that Lockheed Martin's Computer Incident Response Team was the first to report the vulnerability to Microsoft. The fact that the vulnerability was discovered by a defense contractor could indicate that the hacking group was planning "a possible attack against an American target," the Check Point researchers note.</p>
<p>The future of connected and autonomous cars is emerging, and so are the strategies needed to secure it. Red Sky Alliance is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization and has reported on this topic several times. For questions, comments or assistance, please contact the lab directly at 1-844-492-7225, or <a href="mailto:feedback@wapacklabs.com">feedback@wapacklabs.com</a> </p>
<p>Weekly Cyber Intelligence Briefings: <a href="https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3702558539639477516">https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3702558539639477516</a> </p>
<ul>
<li>Reporting: <a href="https://www.redskyalliance.org/">https://www.redskyalliance.org/</a></li>
<li>Website: <a href="https://www.wapacklabs.com/">https://www.wapacklabs.com/</a></li>
<li>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/64265941">https://www.linkedin.com/company/64265941</a> </li>
</ul>
<p><a href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/china-nsa-hacking-tool-epme-hijack/">https://www.wired.com/story/china-nsa-hacking-tool-epme-hijack/</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> <a href="https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/chinese-hacking-group-cloned-nsa-exploit-tool-a-16042?rf=2021-02-23_ENEWS_SUB_BIS__Slot8_ART16042">https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/chinese-hacking-group-cloned-nsa-exploit-tool-a-16042?rf=2021-02-23_ENEWS_SUB_BIS__Slot8_ART16042</a></p></div>US Real Estate for Sale – China’s Buyinghttps://redskyalliance.org/xindustry/us-real-estate-for-sale-china-s-buying2021-02-19T18:27:03.000Z2021-02-19T18:27:03.000ZBill Schenkelberghttps://redskyalliance.org/members/BillSchenkelberg<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8575937274,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8575937274,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8575937274?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="250" /></a>Just how much US land does China own? Excerpts by Libertas Bella (edited).</p>
<p>American-US prosperity has largely been built on a dual foundation: cheap land or expensive labor. Until the US Immigration Act of 1965, Ronald Reagan’s Amnesty of 1986 and North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) opened up the floodgates of immigration (both legal and illegal) this formula basically held firm. When there was not enough labor, employers had to pay more rather than simply importing massive amounts of cheap labor from countries with little in the way of worker protections. The same laws allowing for a massive influx of cheap labor has also destabilized the American real estate market: More buyers mean more demand, which means higher prices for those looking to buy a home.</p>
<p>There are a myriad of social consequences from this; chief among them is that family formation is more expensive and thus less attainable for the average young American worker in the 21st Century than it was in years past. Beyond this, there is the problem of allowing foreign nationals to own real estate in the US, a practice that is outlawed in a number of countries. Where foreign nationals can own real estate, there are often restrictions on where they can buy and how much they can own. The reasons for this hardly need explaining; yet first, the citizens of a nation have first claim on the land. Second, it is potentially dangerous to allow too much of a nation’s land to fall into the hands of foreigners.</p>
<p>Currently 30 million acres of American farmland is owned by foreign investors or fully 2.2 percent of all American farmland. For context, that is an area roughly the size of Mississippi or Pennsylvania. These are effectively absentee landlords who own some of the best real estate in the US. China owned 191,000 acres worth $1.9 billion as of 2019. This might not sound significant, but Chinese ownership of American farmland has exploded dramatically over the last decade. Indeed, there has been a tenfold expansion of Chinese ownership of farmland in the US in less than a decade. Six US states — Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Dakota and Oklahoma — currently ban foreign ownership of farmland. Interesting facts reported within the past 7 years is that 8 million acres of China's farmland is too polluted to farm.<a href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> Hmmmmmmm. </p>
<p>China has 22 percent of the world’s population yet only 7 percent of the world’s arable land (not counting pollution). Technological innovation since the 1960s has ensured that the country is self-sufficient in the production of grain ‘most’ years, but there have been occasions when it has had to import even its staple grain of rice. Over the last decade, the stress on food production has increased, as China faces alarming environmental crises, including a significant depletion in its aquifers. Rapid industrialization also is creating Chinese farm labor is abandoning the agriculture sector in droves, and most farmers are now over 50 years old.<a href="#_ftn2">[2]</a></p>
<p>Massive Chinese investment in US farmland is troublesome for one glaring reason: It puts the food security of the nation in the hands of a hostile foreign power. But there is also the social cost of allowing foreign buyers who have effectively unlimited resources to compete on the real estate market with smaller domestic buyers. It is understandable if no one reading these facts has any tears to shed for Big Aggie (large farming corporations), but the real victims of this ownership are smaller landholders. For those concerned about environmental issues, ask yourself who is more likely to practice good stewardship of the land, US farmers or Chinese bureaucrats thousands of miles away.</p>
<p>Australia has similar fears: According to Australia’s Register of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land, on 30 June 2018, 13.4 percent of Australian land in 2017-18 had “a level of foreign interest,” and 80 percent of this was on a leasehold basis.<a href="#_ftn3">[3]</a> </p>
<p>Chinese Real Estate Investors in the US - In addition to their farmland holdings, China owns more residential real estate than any other foreign country, which has a significant impact on the real estate market on the West Coast. Does this sound far-fetched? Market Watch reports, “Chinese buyers accounted for roughly 25 percent of total foreign investment in US residential real estate.” Canada was far behind at a relatively scant 9 percent. The article specifically mentions Chinese investment in California real estate as a driving force behind high housing prices in the Golden State. It is interesting to note that many of these properties are owned as rental properties by absentee landlords.<a href="#_ftn4">[4]</a> Again, who is going to care more about the quality of tenant life? </p>
<p>China has been buying and developing many areas of the world, consistent with their Belt and Road initiative. Targeting Western countries is a site on their radar. Along with real estate, Red Sky Alliance has reported the cyber intrusions into many countries, including the US. Bans have been placed on many Chinese cyber advances as evidenced from the recent UK regulator Ofcom who cancelled the communication license of China Global Television Network (CTGN), an international English-language satellite news channel, to broadcast inside the UK. In retaliation, China banned the British Broadcasting Company inside China.<a href="#_ftn5">[5]</a> Huawei and ZTE have been place on US banned companies and products. </p>
<p>Our cool collection and analysis tool RedXray and support tool RedPane can help with supporting network defenses and MSSP’s - in a proactive manner - by identifying underground threats and vulnerabilities. This service is an excellent complement to a network defense for any foreign or domestic cyber threat.</p>
<p>Red Sky Alliance is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization. For questions, comments or assistance, please contact the lab directly at 1-844-492-7225, or <a href="mailto:feedback@wapacklabs.com">feedback@wapacklabs.com</a> </p>
<p>Weekly Cyber Intelligence Briefings:<br /> <a href="https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3702558539639477516">https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3702558539639477516</a> </p>
<ul>
<li>Reporting: <a href="https://www.redskyalliance.org/">https://www.redskyalliance.org/</a></li>
<li>Website: <a href="https://www.wapacklabs.com/">https://www.wapacklabs.com/</a></li>
<li>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/64265941">https://www.linkedin.com/company/64265941</a> </li>
</ul>
<p><a href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> <a href="https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2014/01/05/8-million-acres-of-chinas-farmland-is-too-polluted-to-farm-all-farm-products-from-china-suspect-n1772000">https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2014/01/05/8-million-acres-of-chinas-farmland-is-too-polluted-to-farm-all-farm-products-from-china-suspect-n1772000</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> <a href="https://www.thefridaytimes.com/this-is-why-china-wants-our-farmland/">https://www.thefridaytimes.com/this-is-why-china-wants-our-farmland/</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref3">[3]</a> <a href="https://pftw.worldpeacefull.com/china-buying-the-farm/">https://pftw.worldpeacefull.com/china-buying-the-farm/</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref4">[4]</a> <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2021/02/18/review-superpower-showdown-china-us-economics-cold-war-240045">https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2021/02/18/review-superpower-showdown-china-us-economics-cold-war-240045</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref5">[5]</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/11/china-bans-bbc-world-news">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/11/china-bans-bbc-world-news</a></p></div>China, Cyber and the South China Seahttps://redskyalliance.org/xindustry/china-cyber-and-the-south-china-sea2021-01-08T19:00:53.000Z2021-01-08T19:00:53.000ZBill Schenkelberghttps://redskyalliance.org/members/BillSchenkelberg<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8403132900,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8403132900,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="250" alt="8403132900?profile=RESIZE_400x" /></a>For years, Red Sky Alliance has been monitoring the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in both cyber activity and geopolitical matters. The CCP has been and continues to be aggressive in their Belt and Road, long term, initiatives, or the China Maritime Silk Road.<a href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> The CCP yearly train approximately 20,000 cyber ‘professionals’ in hacking type activities. This permeates into the business and citizen cultures of the Chinese population. China controls all business ventures inside its borders and encourages hacking activities among its own businesses and with their foreign business ties to other countries. It is a country bent on cyber poking and prodding. Since 90% of all commerce moves via maritime transportation modes, cyber has been pushed to the forefront in the transportation sector security focus. </p>
<p>In the last year and a half, Red Sky Alliance has been providing both Vessel Impersonation reports and weekly Maritime Watchlists to our friends and colleagues at Dryad Global, a maritime intelligence and risk management organization. Many of the vessel impersonations our analysts have seen, originate and target many Asian nations. These are nations directly affected by the CCP in their ongoing ‘claims’ in the South China Sea.</p>
<p>Dryad Global South China Sea Assessment<a href="#_ftn2">[2]</a> – “Beijing keeps expanding the areas of the sea it claims as its own, despite those territories belonging to other countries. The US-China tension related to the South China Sea has been going on for years, and there is no end in sight.’</p>
<p>“China recently sent its second aircraft carrier, the Shandong, into the region and the Pentagon reports that a US Navy destroyer recently conducted a Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOPS) wherein it sailed within the twelve-mile territorial boundary of island territory claimed by China. FONOPS has been going on for years as part of a visible and decided effort to challenge what the Pentagon regards as illegitimate, erroneous and provocative territorial claims in the highly disputed areas of the South China Sea.’</p>
<p>“The area in question, referred to as the Spratly Island chain, consists of an island chain that has long been at the center of many territorial disputes wherein numerous countries have claimed certain areas as sovereign territory. Of course, China, along with a collection of US allies in Southeast Asia such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan, have for years disagreed about who owns various elements of the islands.</p>
<p>“ ‘On December 22, the USS John S. McCain asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the Spratly Islands,’ a Pentagon report says.’</p>
<p>“Tensions massively escalated years ago when Navy P-8 surveillance planes discovered China’s phony island-building, calling it “land reclamation.” China has now spent many years building man-made structures on and near islands it claims to own in a transparent effort to fortify its territorial claims. In recent years, China has built aircraft landing strips and based fighter jets, artillery, missiles on islands areas it claims to possess.’</p>
<p>“ ‘Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations,’ the Pentagon report states.’</p>
<p>“The United States, and most of the international community, follow what’s known as the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, a sweeping agreement which identifies the first twelve miles of ocean surrounding the coastline of a sovereign territory can be “claimed” by that nation as their own. The treaty also provides provisions for what’s called Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) wherein allies or foreign countries need permission to conduct certain operations within several hundred miles of a country’s coastline. Therefore, to fully explain the rationale behind the US FONOPS, one need only to recognize that sailing within twelve miles of a disputed area is intended to challenge illegitimate territorial claims.’</p>
<p>“ ‘The United States challenges excessive maritime claims around the world regardless of the identity of the claimant. The international law of the sea as reflected in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention provides for certain rights and freedoms and other lawful uses of the sea to all nations,’ the Pentagon essay explains.”</p>
<p>“Interestingly, man-man or artificial island structures do not, according to the Pentagon, align with the Law of the Sea Convention’s definition of that which constitutes an “island.” Therefore, until or unless there is some kind of agreement or resolution to the long-standing crisis in the South China Sea, a development which is highly unlikely by any estimation, the US will continue to conduct FONOPS and challenge China’s claims.’</p>
<p>“ ‘As long as some countries continue to assert maritime claims that are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention and that purport to restrict unlawfully the rights and freedoms guaranteed to all States, the United States will continue to defend those rights and freedoms. No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms,’ the Pentagon report says.” </p>
<p>Yesterday, the National Law Review highlighted that the maritime industry as an enticing target for hackers. So true. “The Port of Los Angeles (the Port) alone facilitated about $276 billion in trade last year (2020), and the International Chamber of Shipping estimated that the total value of world shipping was around $14 trillion in 2019. The Port has plans to construct a multi-million-dollar cyber intelligence facility as a hub for information sharing between the public and private sectors to thwart the increasing attacks on the maritime and logistics industries. This facility, the Cyber Resilience Center, is one of the first of its type to be built in the United States. The Port’s Executive Director, Gene Seroka, said, ‘What we’ve noticed over time is that the potential penetrations and cyber threats have grown each and every year,’ including incidents like the 2017 NotPetya attacks that affected shipping lines, the 2018 ransomware targeting of the Port of Long Beach, and the October 2020 ransomware attack on CMA CGM S.A., a French transportation and container shipping company. Seroka said that as the threat become more evident, the Port ‘“needed to find a way to bring the private sector into this space as well.’ The Cyber Resilience Center is expected to go live by the end of 2021. Participants in this information exchange will be able to share information anonymously through the platform, which will standardize data from different companies’ cybersecurity tools. The Port’s Chief Information Officer will lead the project, which will operate alongside the Port’s cybersecurity operations center.’</p>
<p>“Seroka said that he hopes the Cyber Resilience Center will be a model for other large ports across the United States since information-sharing is such a vital defensive tool. As the shipping industry becomes even more digitized, cyber threats will require facilities such as ports to prioritize set data standards, business rules and open architecture for facilitating information sharing in a secure, protected manner.<a href="#_ftn3">[3]</a>”</p>
<p>The entire transportation supply chain, to include ships and maritime ports, are huge targets – targets that hostile nations, such as the CCP governed China, are constantly probing to gain an advantage through theft and/or subversion. </p>
<p>Red Sky Alliance has been collecting, analyzing and documenting cyber threats and vulnerabilities for over 9 years and maintains a resource library of malware and cyber actor reports. Specifically, our analysts are currently collecting and analyzing Asian based cyber-attacks which target the transportation sectors. </p>
<p>Red Sky Alliance is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization. For questions, comments or assistance, please contact the lab directly at 1-844-492-7225, or <a href="mailto:feedback@wapacklabs.com">feedback@wapacklabs.com</a> </p>
<p>Weekly Cyber Intelligence Briefings: <a href="https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8782169210544615949">https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8782169210544615949</a> </p>
<ul>
<li>Reporting: <a href="https://www.redskyalliance.org/">https://www.redskyalliance.org/</a></li>
<li>Website: <a href="https://www.wapacklabs.com/">https://www.wapacklabs.com/</a></li>
<li>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/64265941">https://www.linkedin.com/company/64265941</a> </li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/positioning-provinces-along-chinas-maritime-silk-road">https://www.mei.edu/publications/positioning-provinces-along-chinas-maritime-silk-road</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> dtd: 31 DEC 2020</p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref3">[3]</a> <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/cyber-intelligence-facility-port-los-angeles-to-thwart-maritime-threats">https://www.natlawreview.com/article/cyber-intelligence-facility-port-los-angeles-to-thwart-maritime-threats</a></p></div>