Huawei Investigation Was Targeted by Chinese Spies, US Alleges (bloomberg.com) 27
The US unsealed charges claiming two Chinese intelligence officers tried to obstruct a criminal investigation of Huawei , and alleged others were working on behalf of a "foreign power" to try procure technology and recruit spies. Bloomberg reports: The charges were part of a series of recently unsealed cases the Justice Department announced Monday that officials said had disrupted criminal activity being conducted by the People's Republic of China. Ten of the 13 individuals charged were Chinese intelligence individuals, according to FBI Director Chris Wray. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco added that the case involving alleged obstruction of a US probe of a telecommunications company -- which the DOJ wouldn't identify -- exposes the connection between the Chinese government and its companies. She said the telecom giant tried to "unlawfully gain an edge" to undermine the US investigation, and shows why Chinese companies shouldn't be trusted to handle the personal data of Americans.
In a complaint made public Monday, the US claims Guochun He and Zheng Wang worked on behalf of the Chinese government to target the US, from 2019 until the present, for the benefit of the company. A person familiar with the matter confirmed it is Huawei. The US claims He and Wang bribed a law enforcement employee to provide what they believed was confidential information about witnesses, evidence and possible additional charges to be filed against the technology giant. He paid the employee $61,000 in Bitcoin, according to the criminal complaint. In a separate action, four people were charged in federal court in New Jersey with conspiracy to act as an illegal agent of a foreign government. The conspiracy allegedly involved Chinese intelligence officers posing as academics to recruit US law enforcement workers and others in seeking help procuring fingerprint technology and equipment for the US. They also allegedly pressured one former official to stop protests in the US along the 2008 Olympic torch route, according to court filings.
In addition, the Justice Department announced that seven people from China were charged in an indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of New York last week with conspiring to harass a Chinese citizen living in the US in hopes of causing the person to return. The actions were allegedly part of an effort by China, called "Operation Fox Hunt," to force the repatriation of alleged fugitives living in other countries. In the case involving the Huawei probe, the complaint includes conversations between He and Wang and a US government employee working as a double agent under supervision of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They were using an encrypted messaging program that is not identified.
In a complaint made public Monday, the US claims Guochun He and Zheng Wang worked on behalf of the Chinese government to target the US, from 2019 until the present, for the benefit of the company. A person familiar with the matter confirmed it is Huawei. The US claims He and Wang bribed a law enforcement employee to provide what they believed was confidential information about witnesses, evidence and possible additional charges to be filed against the technology giant. He paid the employee $61,000 in Bitcoin, according to the criminal complaint. In a separate action, four people were charged in federal court in New Jersey with conspiracy to act as an illegal agent of a foreign government. The conspiracy allegedly involved Chinese intelligence officers posing as academics to recruit US law enforcement workers and others in seeking help procuring fingerprint technology and equipment for the US. They also allegedly pressured one former official to stop protests in the US along the 2008 Olympic torch route, according to court filings.
In addition, the Justice Department announced that seven people from China were charged in an indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of New York last week with conspiring to harass a Chinese citizen living in the US in hopes of causing the person to return. The actions were allegedly part of an effort by China, called "Operation Fox Hunt," to force the repatriation of alleged fugitives living in other countries. In the case involving the Huawei probe, the complaint includes conversations between He and Wang and a US government employee working as a double agent under supervision of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They were using an encrypted messaging program that is not identified.
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Re:yeah ....no. (Score:4, Insightful)
Second, you have one of your own there, seeing as the possibility of an American company trying to "unlawfully gain an edge to undermine" an investigation really has no bearing on the conclusion that the close relationship between the Chinese government and Chinese firms is evidence that we should not trust them to handle our data.
"You can't say Chinese companies are untrustworthy because American companies do crooked things too" is not an argument, it's just evidence of a broken brain. Even if you believe the US has the same relationship with domestic companies, even if you believe American companies are equally untrustworthy, it does not render the conclusion "the Chinese government conducts industrial espionage in concert with Chinese firms, therefore Chinese firms should not be trusted with American data" a non-sequitur, no matter how much you don't like the US government. That's not how language works.
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well, nothing of that is actually substantiated in the abstract (sorry, couldn't care less about the paywalled bloomberg article), not even if you include the bizarre reference to the olympic torch route protests 14 years ago (!!!). this all just sounds incredibly fishy. if you have actual evidence then give it to them, they'll be surely very happy.
i was just making a pun on the nonsense which is neatly contained in this single sentence attributed to that mona lisa, it's all self contained:
"She said the telecom giant tried to "unlawfully gain an edge" to undermine the US investigation, and shows why Chinese companies shouldn't be trusted to handle the personal data of Americans."
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Almost as if breaking the law had consequences.
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Does it hurt to be so dumb?
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Difficult to tell if people are just bad at trolling or plain dumb anymore.
Re: Spy games (Score:2)
Who the fuck is talking about morals here?
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see the slashdot downmodding at work right here when someone says something contradictory to the narrative of fuckwits.
slashdot needs to remove downmodding, and strip out anonymous coward posting privileges so we can document the obvious misinfo accounts peddling bullshit.
Caught (Score:5, Insightful)
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Maybe they are decoys for the real spies.
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Spies gonna spy. It's what they do. Every modern nation spies on everyone else. Nobody is perfect, so everyone gets caught sometimes.
The surprising part (to me) is that they decided to make it public, and go for the PR stunt instead of keeping it quiet for diplomatic leverage. Most spying cases are handled behind the scenes, diplomatically, in a tit-for-tat exchange of favors. Making a public case is unusual.
In other news... (Score:1)
...water is wet, the sun rises in the east, and sometimes, people lie.
Of course China will target both real and perceived threats. All countries do this.
Maserati (Score:2)
> CNN: "The defendants tried to bribe their targets with lavish gifts, prosecutors allege, including with an all-expense paid trip to China."
Come on, a real bribe is to a place that is otherwise expensive to visit. China is only average in that regard.
"Pssst, I'll give you a Chevy if get me the Grand Plans."
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If it were a ZR-1 Corvette, a Chevy wouldn't be so bad.
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Sure are a lot of Chinese applogists here. (Score:2, Interesting)
There sure are a lot of Chinese apologists here in the comments. Kind of surprising considering how many tech people here may have lost their jobs from Chinese IP theft. One may even theorize that they are part of the 50 Cent Party.
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Not sure why you got downvoted, unless those same Chinese apologists have been given points.
On second thought, I *am* sure why you got downvoted: those same Chinese apologists have been given points.
Anyway, I agree with you. Now let's see how quickly I get downvoted.
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Not sure why you got downvoted
His currently scored 0 post isn't downvoted, it's actually upvoted. Apparently, the GP's karma is so bad that his base score is worse than an AC.
Huawei isn't a real company (Score:5, Insightful)
Huawei is a foreign intelligence agency masquerading as a business, and they are under no pressure to EVER make money.
Their only job is to get a footprint that they can use as leverage and for intelligence.
Crypto AG [theguardian.com] was similar
LOL, what a headline (Score:1)
Of course, from Bloomberg - mouthpiece of the Financial elites... let's keep pumping the public full of anti-(insert elite's enemy here) bullshit.
The events following Snowden's releases (which he stated were the tip of the iceberg) - such as the 'heartbleed bug' - in reality a crypto backdoor - shows us that the biggest threat to EVERYONE'S security is the U.S.
When they NSL backdoors into encryption, coupled with the TURBULENT and TURMOIL programs, it's obvious that all this crap from the media (who largely