back to article Chinese cyberspies, Musk’s Beijing ties, labelled ‘real risk’ to US security by senator

A senior US senator has warned that American tech companies’ activities in China represent a national security risk, in a hearing that saw infosec biz CrowdStrike testify it has identified another cyber-espionage crew it believes is backed by Beijing. The warning came from Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who chairs the …

  1. Gene Cash Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Blumenthal also blasted Apple

    A senior US senator should be the last one to be surprised that money talks.

    1. StudeJeff

      Re: Blumenthal also blasted Apple

      Especially one like Bloomers...

  2. Sora2566 Silver badge

    Trump: Well, that's easily solved then! I'll just slap bigly tarrifs on everything being made in China!

    Musk: Um, er, oh, ee....

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Obviously there will be exemptions for vital donors strategic companies

    2. DS999 Silver badge

      Trump will make an exception for Musk

      Until he gets sick of people referring to Musk as "co president", Musk trying too hard to push his views about nominees, policy, etc. or just taking away some of the limelight that Trump believes should be his alone.

      Then that exception for Tesla will turn into a double tariff for Tesla.

      1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

        Re: Trump will make an exception for Musk

        Musk should be careful never to utter anything along the lines of Trump only got back in the White House because of his support.

        Which may need a demonstration of loyalty. How about making Don Jr a director in Tesla? Though even Boring Company would be too much for him to handle

  3. Cliffwilliams44 Silver badge

    Blinded by Ideology!

    The honorable Senator turned a bind eye to his demented President receiving millions of dollars from Chinese sources. so spare me your concern about Musk and his company!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Cliffwilliams44 - Re: Blinded by Ideology!

      I'm sorry for you but you seem to be affected by the same kind of blindness.

      Disparaging and smearing China is a well funded operation conducted by top professionals. After all, this a matter of national security isn't it ?

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: @Cliffwilliams44 - Blinded by Ideology!

        Everyone knows that President Biden is funded by the Northern Independence Party and VP Harris is a tool of the Batley Towns womens Guild

        El'reg is a British publication and supports British conspiracies

        1. Paul Herber Silver badge

          Re: @Cliffwilliams44 - Blinded by Ideology!

          "Batley Townswomens' Guild" if you don't mind.

          Who are you and where do you come from? Us Pythonists (True Believers Division) need to know.

          It's handbags at dawn!

    2. DS999 Silver badge

      Re: Blinded by Ideology!

      You can make those claims all you want, but if you want anyone outside the right wing media bubble to believe them there will have to be proof. Like how there is proof about Jared Kushner getting the Saudis to invest $2 billion his "fund" right after Trump's term ended despite having zero experience running a hedge fund or investing in the market at all. That's a guaranteed $50 million a year in income whether the fund gains or loses. Even if Biden was taking money from China that would be a drop in the bucket compared to Trump & family's corruption.

  4. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
    Mushroom

    Blumenthal focused on Elon Musk and the Pentagon's increasing reliance on the super-tycoon's SpaceX services

    As mentioned several times before on there forums, similarities Elon Musk and the fictional Hugo Drax, even extending to the vowel and consonant count in the first and last names

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonraker_(novel)

    The novel was first published 16 years before Musk was born

    1. StudeJeff

      I think he's more like D.D. Harriman.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        i think he's more like a south afriKKKAn nazi bastard, who should end up like mussolini and the lamp post

  5. Nasu

    Shall we count all the ways the US government is spying on its friends, enemies and its own people???

  6. Nasu

    Jack Teixeira, a member of the national guard

    was arrested in April 2023,

    He is accused of sharing top-secret intelligence with friends in the social-media forum Discord over the course of months—

    Leaked Documents reveal that

    The US has been SPYING on:

    .

    *Russia and Wagner Group

    .

    *Israel

    .

    *S.Korea.

    .

    *Egypt

    .

    *The head of the UN

    .

    *Zelenski

    .

    *Jordan.

    *Hungary

    .

    *Turkey

    .

    *UAE

    .

    *Germany

    .

    *UK

    .

    *Brazil and

    .

    *CHINA

  7. Nasu

    THE US is SPYING ON UKRAINE

    APRIL 2023

    number of alleged US military classified documents have appeared across social media, detailing information such as maps of Ukraine and charts on where troops are concentrated and what kinds of weapons are available to them. One is labeled "Top Secret," and is titled "Status of the Conflict as of 1 March.

    The New York Times reported on Saturday that the leaked intelligence reports seem to indicate that "the United States is also spying on Ukraine's top military and political leaders, a reflection of Washington's struggle to get a clear view of Ukraine's fighting strategies."

  8. Nasu

    US SPIED ON WAGNER

    The leaked documents show the mercenary outfit’s ambition to operate in African states as well as Haiti, and that it had hatched plans to source arms covertly from Nato member Turkey.

    In early February, Wagner personnel “met with Turkish contacts to purchase weapons and equipment from Turkey”, one of the reports states, suggesting that Mali could act as a proxy buyer. Wagner is known to have set up a sizeable operation in the west African state, and one of the leaked documents claims the mercenary group has 1,645 fighters in the country.

  9. Nasu

    US SPIED ON RUSSIA

    Newly discovered documents suggest Russian officials are at loggerheads over the reporting of casualties.

    The main intelligence agency, the FSB, has "accused" the country's defence ministry of playing down the human impact of the war, the files show.

    These findings show the extent to which the US agencies have penetrated the Russian intelligence and military.

  10. Nasu

    US SPIED ON JORDAN

    Three documents based on intelligence from late February detail discussions among senior Jordanian officials over whether or not to shut the Chinese firm Huawei out of its 5G rollout plans.

    Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein, in charge of the rollout, is said in the document to be worried about retaliation from China if they keep Huawei out.

  11. Nasu

    US SPIED ON ISREAL

    An alleged "CIA Intel Update" dated March 1 included in the leaked documents

    The leaked document, labelled top secret, said that in February, senior Mossad officials “advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to protest the new Israeli government’s proposed judicial reforms, including several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli government, according to signals intelligence”.

    The office of Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has firmly rejected the claim made in one of the leaked documents.

  12. Nasu

    US SPIED ON SOUTH KOREA

    The leaked classified Defense Department documents posted online revealed that the CIA appears to have been spying on the National Security Office (NSO) in Seoul,

    the US intercepted calls from two senior South Korean officials about how to supply ammunition to Ukraine,

    One of the documents, which does not contain a date, gave details of alleged internal discussions among top aides to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol

    The US would have spied on South Korea, one of its most important allies, if the information contained in the document is correct.

    Another document, according to the NYT, talks about how the United States learned about the South Korean deliberations. The information was from "a signals intelligence report," a term spy agencies use for any kind of intercepted communications from phone calls to electronic messages.

    According to the leaked reports, then-head of the NSO, Kim Sung-han, was concerned that public opinion could see South Korea accepting this US request as a quid pro quo for a state visit.

    The documents show that Kim suggested possibly selling the munitions to Poland, which controls the main weapons supply routes, since it was Washington's goal to get the material to Ukraine quickly. It was also revealed that Im Ki-hun, presidential secretary for national defense, had promised to come to “a final stance by March 2.”

  13. Nasu

    The most recent allegation occurred in 2013, when documents leaked by former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden suggested that the U.S. National Security Agency eavesdropped on the South Korean Embassy and other diplomatic facilities in Washington.

  14. Nasu

    THE US HAS BEEN SPYING ON EGYPT

    Sisi instructed his military to produce and supply weapons to Russia, according to a document that appears to be leaked intelligence from the Pentagon seen by The Washington Post.

    Sisi ordered the military to ship 40,000 rockets to Moscow while taking steps to conceal the plan “to avoid problems with the West” according to the document, dated Feb. 17 shortly after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Sisi, and marked as the highest level of classification,

    For Egypt to directly support Russia would likely disrupt what has proven a valuable relationship for Cairo, experts said.

    An official is quoted as saying he would "order his people to work shift work if necessary because it was the least Egypt could do to repay Russia for unspecified help earlier".

  15. Nasu

    US SPIED ON

    NATO SPECIAL FORCES IN UKRAINE

    According to the document, dated 23 March, the UK has the largest contingent of special forces in Ukraine (50), followed by fellow Nato states Latvia (17), France (15), the US (14) and the Netherlands (1).

    So NATO forces are in Ukraine

    On Saturday evening, France’s defence ministry denied that there were French soldiers in Ukraine, as allegedly revealed in one of the leaked documents that circulated on social media in the middle of last week.

    “There are no French forces engaged in operation in Ukraine,” said a spokesperson for the minister of the armed forces, Sébastien Lecornu. “The documents cited do not come from the French armies. We do not comment on documents whose source is uncertain

  16. Nasu

    APRIL 15, 2023

    US SPYING ON THE HEAD OF THE UN

    LEAK DOCUMENTS show

    The US government believes the UN Secretary General is too willing to accommodate Russian interests, according to fresh revelations in classified documents leaked online.

    The files suggest Washington has been SPYING on Antonio Guterres.

    Several documents describe private communications involving Mr Guterres and his deputy.

    The documents contain candid observations from Mr Guterres about the war in Ukraine and a number of African leaders.

    One leaked document focuses on the Black Sea grain deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey in July following fears of a global food crisis.

    It suggests that Mr Guterres was so keen to preserve the deal that he was willing to accommodate Russia's interests.

  17. Nasu

    US WAS SPYING ON RUSSIA

    Some of these documents show how with the help of intercepted communications and human sources,

    the US has penetrated the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian mercenary organisation Wagner Group.

    The details of briefings and analysis in the leaked documents show that the CIA has recruited human agents who reval the closed-door conversations of world leaders, the espionage in Russia shows a Russian mercenary outfit tried to acquire weapons from a NATO ally to use against Ukraine, reported The Washington Post

    the US has been able to intercept Russian targeting plans, down to which exact thermoelectric power plants, electric substations, and railroad and vehicle bridges Russian forces planned to attack inside Ukraine and when,

  18. Nasu

    US SPIED ON ZELENSKI

    One document accessed by CNN reveals that the US has been spying on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. One document shows that the US was aware that Zelensky in late February "suggested striking Russian deployment locations in Russia's Rostov Oblast" using unmanned aerial vehicles. The US has not given Ukraine long-range missile systems over fears that it will use them to strike inside Russia.

  19. Nasu

    US SPYING ON CANADA

    The leaked documents describe claims by Russian-backed hackers that they successfully accessed Canada's natural gas infrastructure

  20. Nasu

    the US SPIED ON HUNGARY

    The most eye-popping nugget is buried in a “top secret” CIA update from March 2, which says Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán branded the U.S. “one of his party’s top three adversaries during a political strategy session” on February 22.

    The remarks, it notes, constitute “an escalation of the level of anti-American rhetoric” from Orbán.

  21. Nasu

    US WAS SPYING ON TURKEY

    For Belarus, the document says, “Turkish companies purchased sanctioned goods” and then “sold them in European markets.” In the opposite direction, it adds, these companies “resold goods from Europe to Russia.”

    another leaked document describes a meeting in February between “Turkish contacts” and the Wagner Group, the private militia firm fighting for the Kremlin. It says Wagner was seeking “to purchase weapons and equipment from Turkey” for the group’s “efforts in Mali and Ukraine.”

    The information, which the document says came from “signals intelligence” — a euphemism for digital surveillance — does not explain whether the purchases have occurred

  22. Nasu

    US WAS SPYING ON UK

    Another text suggests that the United Kingdom is planning to deploy one of the Royal Navy’s new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers to the South Pacific to counter Chinese influence in the region. It also assesses the priorities of the U.K. opposition Labour Party and how Beijing would react to an incoming Labour government scrapping the South Pacific plan in order to focus resources closer to home. This is also designated for American eyes only," reports Yahoo.

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