Re: Capabilities and Intentions
I work in the industry, and have worked on Huawei, Infinera, Cisco and other fiber systems. The capability to eavesdrop is already there; and it's in everyone's gear. All vendors, at least in the more modern gear, can dial into the network and access every single node on the network. Right now we can tell when they are in, but it only needs a software update to change that. Or does it?
The software may already be in there, allowing the vendor to log into the gear anonymously and select circuits to copy and send. The hardest part of this is physically getting the data out of the network undetected, but all the spy agency would need is to buy a few point to point circuits using a shell company. The gear could then mirror the data going across the selected circuit and send it down the second circuit. All modern fiber gear allows for remote provisioning, and allows for seamless 1:1 protection, so the hardware is already in place in a way that it would not be noticed. If the gear can be set to split and send data down two paths at once, it can be set to send it down a third. This is not a what-if. The gear allows for one circuit to be mirrored and sent down two separate paths, and the distant end receives both inputs and decides which to use, and is normally used by companies like stock traders and banks that can't afford to lose a single byte of data.
It's not going to be easy to find, either. It's not like there's a big red plug on the boards that says "SPY MODULE". Any extra gear needed on the boards can be built in as extra components with their own circuit traces. Fiber optic gear is repaired by plucking and chucking cards, not by replacing components with a soldering iron. Defective cards get sent back for repair, so nobody outside the manufacturer really knows what all those components really do.
It's also a lot easier to catch the US government spying than it is the Chinese government. The US government is far more open than the Chinese government, and the Chinese government is far more likely to imprison or execute you than the US government is. You can get shot for a minor governmental embarassment in China.
Anon, not that it matters, because they can find me if they... hey, who are you? What are you doing in my
Biting the hand that feeds IT
