5 Mar, 2023 21:21

Ukraine rolls out system to auto-block ‘malicious’ websites

Officially, the system will be used to target scammers, while critics warn that it may result in even tighter online censorship

Ukrainian authorities have rolled out an automatic system to "filter out" malicious websites, used for online scamming and phishing schemes. The system was introduced on January 30 and enforced on Thursday,with all the Internet providers in the country obliged to use it.

The new system is expectedto provide every 15 minutes a listof malicious websites for providers to block, The system is designed to target only scammers, its creator, Ukraine’s National Center for Operating and Management of Telecommunication Networks, insists.

"The system is not intended for filtering domains and restricting access to Internet resources that are used to spread malicious programs, propaganda, disinformation, etc., as well as for Internet resources restricted under sanctions," the body said in a statement introducing the system.

Such an explanation, however, was apparently not sufficient for critics, who raised alarm over the use of the system by the authorities as well as a potential breach of it by Ukraine’s "enemies." Namely,the Ukrainian Internet Association, a civic group founded by MP Alexander Fedienko,reached out to President Vladimir Zelensky over the system, voicing concerns and urging him to halt or drop the initiative altogether.

The association warned the system may end up being used to block any Internet resource the authorities deem undesirable. Apart from that, the critics pointed fingers at a feature of the system that enabled the collection, for unclear reasons, of personal data of users visiting malicious websites.

All in all, the whole system looks like a "Trojan horse," and potential implications for Ukraine’s web, should it get breached by the country’s "enemies," can be effectively fatal, the association warned.

Amid the ongoing conflict with Russia, Kiev has increasingly tightened its grip on the media and political field, outlawing multiple parties and shutting down numerous news outlets. In December, Ukraine adopted its controversial, long-debated, restrictive media law, with the legislation slammed as carrying "systemic problems for democracy" by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

https://www.rt.com/russia/572508-ukraine-web-content-blocking/

(Ukraine is afraid their citizens will see the truth on the internet. This country is a perfect example of 1984 fully functional. Freaks! Bet our IC wishes they could do this.)

5 Mar, 2023 23:56

US suspects cranes of spying for China – media

Beijing has dismissed new charges as “paranoia”

The Pentagon sees the giant Chinese-made cranes operating at US ports, including several shipping hubs used by the military, as a potential “Trojan horse” that China could use to gather intelligence on materiel being moved in and out of the country, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Fresh from the Chinese “spy balloon” debacle, unnamed “national-security and Pentagon officials” have reportedly turned their attention to yet another alleged espionage tool. While the newspaper did not indicate whether there have been any actual cases of a crane being used for spying, it cited a former US counterintelligence official Bill Evanina expressing concerns that it could provide remote access to disrupt the flow of goods.

“Cranes can be the new Huawei,” Evanina said, referring to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies, whose products had been banned from the US market over similar spying concerns. “It’s the perfect combination of legitimate business that can also masquerade as clandestine intelligence collection.”

The crane worries come on the heels of the US-China row last month over high-altitude balloons. President Joe Biden’s administration shot down an alleged spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina after it drifted across the country. US officials accused China of using such balloons around the world as a surveillance tool.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry denied that Beijing had any such program and scolded Washington for abusing force and overreacting to a civilian airship that blew off course and inadvertently entered US airspace.

The reported concerns about cranes are a “paranoia-driven” attempt to obstruct trade and economic cooperation with China, a representative of the Chinese Embassy in Washington told the WSJ. “Playing the ‘China card’ and floating the ‘China threat’ theory is irresponsible and will harm the interests of the US itself.”

The cranes in question are made by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, known as ZPMC. The company became a major player in the US market by offering high-quality cranes at cheaper prices than Western suppliers charged. ZPMC has worked with Microsoft and other companies to offer automated systems that can analyze data in real time.

Washington’s Defense Intelligence Agency said in a 2021 classified assessment that China could potentially disrupt port traffic or gather data on military equipment being shipped, the WSJ said.

US national security officials have raised concerns in recent years over other Chinese-made equipment, such as baggage-screening systems and electric transformers. A bill passed by Congress in December ordered a study of whether foreign-made cranes in US ports pose security risks.

https://www.rt.com/news/572510-us-port-cranes-china-spying/

>>18452659

23 Jul, 2022 20:51

China used Huawei to disrupt US nukes – CNN

Cell phone towers across the US Midwest were capable of capturing Pentagon communications, the FBI told CNN

The US government has stalled in its efforts to remove Huawei telecom equipment that the FBI claims could have spied on and disrupted communications at US military bases, including those housing nuclear missiles, CNN reported on Saturday.

Amid a broad crackdown on Chinese technology under the Trump administration, Congress approved $1.9 billion in funding in 2019 to remove Huawei and ZTE telecom equipment across the US. However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) told lawmakers last week that stripping American networks of this Chinese gear would cost between $4.7 and $4.98 billion.

Much of this equipment remains in place, and although the administration of President Joe Biden has largely continued the efforts of his predecessor, Donald Trump, to purge the US of Chinese communications technology, a Commerce Department probe into Huawei’s activities is progressing slowly, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, this technology may have posed an acute security risk to the US, Reutersreported on Thursday. FCC commissioner Brendan Carr told the news outlet thatcell phone towers around Montana's Malmstrom Air Force Base– which controls several missile sites in the US – used Huawei technology, as did two other sites in Nebraska and Wyoming.

The FBI believes that this Huawei equipment was capable of collecting and disrupting Pentagon communications, anonymous sources told CNN. US Strategic Command, the command in charge of the US’ nuclear deterrence and global strike forces, may have had its communications disrupted, the sources added.

It is unclear whether any data was actually intercepted by the Huawei towers, much less whether any was sent back to Beijing. The Chinese government has persistently denied using the country’s tech firms to spy on the West, and Huawei told CNN that all of its products imported to the US meet FCC specifications and are unable to access any communications spectrum controlled by the Pentagon.

"For more than 30 years, Huawei has maintained a proven track record in cyber security and we have never been involved in any malicious cyber security incidents," the company said in a statement.

The accusations come at a time of growing competition between the US and China, with Biden publicly discussing potential military conflict between the two superpowers and FBI Director Christopher Wray warning Western business leaders that Beijing is engaged in “pervasive” espionage and data theft.

Yet while the US’ latest National Defense Strategy names “the [China] challenge in the Indo-Pacific” as its greatest military challenge and seeks to rally its allies into formal and informal alliances against Beijing, the alleged threat posed by Huawei precedes both the Trump and Biden administrations.

As early as the Obama administration, the FBI was monitoring the installation of Huawei routers on cell towers throughout the midwestern states. Sometimes selling its wares at a loss to small US telecoms providers, by 2021 Huawei had its equipment installed on around 1,000 towers, covering an area along the borders of Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado that is home to a dense cluster of nuclear missile silos.

When the FBI investigated this proliferation of equipment, they found that Huawei weather and traffic cameras had also been installed, and an agency report claiming that this data was sent back to China prompted the 2019 bill ordering the removal of the gear.

Amid US accusals and Chinese denials, Beijing has also claimed that American tech companies are collecting information from within China. Tesla vehicles have been banned from numerous locations in China, including the resort town where the Chinese leadership holds its summer retreat, over concerns that their cameras could be used to capture sensitive data.

https://www.rt.com/news/559532-huawei-spying-nukes-fbi/

Shit this is an article was last, andall those nuke bases were flown over by the China balloon a couple of weeks ago.