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China's Hacking Hydra: From Creepy Local Spies to Nvidia Chip Drama
This is your Digital Dragon Watch: Weekly China Cyber Alert podcast.
You’re tuned in with Ting on Digital Dragon Watch, and what a week it’s been in the world of China cyber shenanigans. Straight to the intrigue: the biggest story just erupted around America’s water utilities, like a headline out of DEF CON itself. US federal agencies and innocent water districts from Montana to Maryland discovered Beijing’s Volt Typhoon hacking collective didn’t just peek—they set up shop deep inside hundreds of small utilities’ networks. DEF CON hackers and the Franklin Project had to convince local water managers, “Yes, even your sleepy town’s water system is a target,” because these assets often feed military bases or critical hospitals. Chinese attackers aren’t picky about size—they care about strategic leverage. Their MO? Pre-position for future sabotage, and also covertly route traffic through unsuspecting municipal pumps and sensors.
The US response has been urgent. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, literally dropped an emergency directive on August 9th, forcing federal agencies to slam the doors on a fresh Microsoft Exchange vulnerability—a possible pivot-point for PRC actors probing government networks. Leading water security groups, like Aspen Digital and Cyber Solarium 2.0, joined forces to distribute Dragos OT protection tools for free, with Craig Newmark Philanthropies pitching in. There’s hope for scale, but as the Franklin team said, “Funding has dried up for some government-backed info sharing, so we’re accelerating whether we like it or not.”
On chips, the drama continues: China’s cyberspace watchdog just summoned Nvidia to explain if H20 AI chips—the ones designed for the Chinese market post-Biden export bans—have built-in backdoors. Official channels like People’s Daily and CCTV-affiliated Yuyuan Tantian accuse Nvidia of dangerous “remote shutdown” capabilities. Nvidia insists their chips have no backdoor, but trade tensions are boiling over, and US policymakers are watching like hawks.
Meanwhile, don’t blink on the personal surveillance front. This week’s bombshell reports from the European Times and Sakshi Post document how the Chinese Communist Party has expanded transnational repression right onto US soil. FBI agents in New York arrested two men operating a secret “service center” for the Ministry of Public Security, whose job was to threaten Chinese dissidents and push them to return home. The CCP uses legal intimidation—what analysts call “lawfare”—to silence overseas critics, pressure scholars, and manipulate extradition treaties. Chinese tech giants (think ByteDance, the parent of TikTok) are under scrutiny for potential data compliance with Beijing’s heavy hand—raising the stakes for app privacy, influence, and censorship.
In Taiwan, the past week has seen a hard escalation: hybrid warfare now mixes daily cyberattacks with direct intimidation of defense officials. Beijing just issued "wanted" notices for Taiwanese cyber officers and even orchestrated a plot targeting Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim. Think psychological warfare meets digital denial of service—a toxic blend aimed to destabilize.
The expert playbook? If you’re in critical infrastructure, adopt multi-factor authentication, patch exposure points like Exchange and SharePoint immediately, and tap into free DEF CON tooling where available. Policy analysts like Jiwon Ma push for state-level cyber regs as Congress debates national standards—so keep eyes on New York’s new water sector rules.
That’s a wrap for this week’s Digital Dragon Watch. Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss your China cyber fix. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta
You’re tuned in with Ting on Digital Dragon Watch, and what a week it’s been in the world of China cyber shenanigans. Straight to the intrigue: the biggest story just erupted around America’s water utilities, like a headline out of DEF CON itself. US federal agencies and innocent water districts from Montana to Maryland discovered Beijing’s Volt Typhoon hacking collective didn’t just peek—they set up shop deep inside hundreds of small utilities’ networks. DEF CON hackers and the Franklin Project had to convince local water managers, “Yes, even your sleepy town’s water system is a target,” because these assets often feed military bases or critical hospitals. Chinese attackers aren’t picky about size—they care about strategic leverage. Their MO? Pre-position for future sabotage, and also covertly route traffic through unsuspecting municipal pumps and sensors.
The US response has been urgent. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, literally dropped an emergency directive on August 9th, forcing federal agencies to slam the doors on a fresh Microsoft Exchange vulnerability—a possible pivot-point for PRC actors probing government networks. Leading water security groups, like Aspen Digital and Cyber Solarium 2.0, joined forces to distribute Dragos OT protection tools for free, with Craig Newmark Philanthropies pitching in. There’s hope for scale, but as the Franklin team said, “Funding has dried up for some government-backed info sharing, so we’re accelerating whether we like it or not.”
On chips, the drama continues: China’s cyberspace watchdog just summoned Nvidia to explain if H20 AI chips—the ones designed for the Chinese market post-Biden export bans—have built-in backdoors. Official channels like People’s Daily and CCTV-affiliated Yuyuan Tantian accuse Nvidia of dangerous “remote shutdown” capabilities. Nvidia insists their chips have no backdoor, but trade tensions are boiling over, and US policymakers are watching like hawks.
Meanwhile, don’t blink on the personal surveillance front. This week’s bombshell reports from the European Times and Sakshi Post document how the Chinese Communist Party has expanded transnational repression right onto US soil. FBI agents in New York arrested two men operating a secret “service center” for the Ministry of Public Security, whose job was to threaten Chinese dissidents and push them to return home. The CCP uses legal intimidation—what analysts call “lawfare”—to silence overseas critics, pressure scholars, and manipulate extradition treaties. Chinese tech giants (think ByteDance, the parent of TikTok) are under scrutiny for potential data compliance with Beijing’s heavy hand—raising the stakes for app privacy, influence, and censorship.
In Taiwan, the past week has seen a hard escalation: hybrid warfare now mixes daily cyberattacks with direct intimidation of defense officials. Beijing just issued "wanted" notices for Taiwanese cyber officers and even orchestrated a plot targeting Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim. Think psychological warfare meets digital denial of service—a toxic blend aimed to destabilize.
The expert playbook? If you’re in critical infrastructure, adopt multi-factor authentication, patch exposure points like Exchange and SharePoint immediately, and tap into free DEF CON tooling where available. Policy analysts like Jiwon Ma push for state-level cyber regs as Congress debates national standards—so keep eyes on New York’s new water sector rules.
That’s a wrap for this week’s Digital Dragon Watch. Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss your China cyber fix. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta
View all episodes
By Quiet. PleaseThis is your Digital Dragon Watch: Weekly China Cyber Alert podcast.
You’re tuned in with Ting on Digital Dragon Watch, and what a week it’s been in the world of China cyber shenanigans. Straight to the intrigue: the biggest story just erupted around America’s water utilities, like a headline out of DEF CON itself. US federal agencies and innocent water districts from Montana to Maryland discovered Beijing’s Volt Typhoon hacking collective didn’t just peek—they set up shop deep inside hundreds of small utilities’ networks. DEF CON hackers and the Franklin Project had to convince local water managers, “Yes, even your sleepy town’s water system is a target,” because these assets often feed military bases or critical hospitals. Chinese attackers aren’t picky about size—they care about strategic leverage. Their MO? Pre-position for future sabotage, and also covertly route traffic through unsuspecting municipal pumps and sensors.
The US response has been urgent. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, literally dropped an emergency directive on August 9th, forcing federal agencies to slam the doors on a fresh Microsoft Exchange vulnerability—a possible pivot-point for PRC actors probing government networks. Leading water security groups, like Aspen Digital and Cyber Solarium 2.0, joined forces to distribute Dragos OT protection tools for free, with Craig Newmark Philanthropies pitching in. There’s hope for scale, but as the Franklin team said, “Funding has dried up for some government-backed info sharing, so we’re accelerating whether we like it or not.”
On chips, the drama continues: China’s cyberspace watchdog just summoned Nvidia to explain if H20 AI chips—the ones designed for the Chinese market post-Biden export bans—have built-in backdoors. Official channels like People’s Daily and CCTV-affiliated Yuyuan Tantian accuse Nvidia of dangerous “remote shutdown” capabilities. Nvidia insists their chips have no backdoor, but trade tensions are boiling over, and US policymakers are watching like hawks.
Meanwhile, don’t blink on the personal surveillance front. This week’s bombshell reports from the European Times and Sakshi Post document how the Chinese Communist Party has expanded transnational repression right onto US soil. FBI agents in New York arrested two men operating a secret “service center” for the Ministry of Public Security, whose job was to threaten Chinese dissidents and push them to return home. The CCP uses legal intimidation—what analysts call “lawfare”—to silence overseas critics, pressure scholars, and manipulate extradition treaties. Chinese tech giants (think ByteDance, the parent of TikTok) are under scrutiny for potential data compliance with Beijing’s heavy hand—raising the stakes for app privacy, influence, and censorship.
In Taiwan, the past week has seen a hard escalation: hybrid warfare now mixes daily cyberattacks with direct intimidation of defense officials. Beijing just issued "wanted" notices for Taiwanese cyber officers and even orchestrated a plot targeting Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim. Think psychological warfare meets digital denial of service—a toxic blend aimed to destabilize.
The expert playbook? If you’re in critical infrastructure, adopt multi-factor authentication, patch exposure points like Exchange and SharePoint immediately, and tap into free DEF CON tooling where available. Policy analysts like Jiwon Ma push for state-level cyber regs as Congress debates national standards—so keep eyes on New York’s new water sector rules.
That’s a wrap for this week’s Digital Dragon Watch. Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss your China cyber fix. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta
You’re tuned in with Ting on Digital Dragon Watch, and what a week it’s been in the world of China cyber shenanigans. Straight to the intrigue: the biggest story just erupted around America’s water utilities, like a headline out of DEF CON itself. US federal agencies and innocent water districts from Montana to Maryland discovered Beijing’s Volt Typhoon hacking collective didn’t just peek—they set up shop deep inside hundreds of small utilities’ networks. DEF CON hackers and the Franklin Project had to convince local water managers, “Yes, even your sleepy town’s water system is a target,” because these assets often feed military bases or critical hospitals. Chinese attackers aren’t picky about size—they care about strategic leverage. Their MO? Pre-position for future sabotage, and also covertly route traffic through unsuspecting municipal pumps and sensors.
The US response has been urgent. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, literally dropped an emergency directive on August 9th, forcing federal agencies to slam the doors on a fresh Microsoft Exchange vulnerability—a possible pivot-point for PRC actors probing government networks. Leading water security groups, like Aspen Digital and Cyber Solarium 2.0, joined forces to distribute Dragos OT protection tools for free, with Craig Newmark Philanthropies pitching in. There’s hope for scale, but as the Franklin team said, “Funding has dried up for some government-backed info sharing, so we’re accelerating whether we like it or not.”
On chips, the drama continues: China’s cyberspace watchdog just summoned Nvidia to explain if H20 AI chips—the ones designed for the Chinese market post-Biden export bans—have built-in backdoors. Official channels like People’s Daily and CCTV-affiliated Yuyuan Tantian accuse Nvidia of dangerous “remote shutdown” capabilities. Nvidia insists their chips have no backdoor, but trade tensions are boiling over, and US policymakers are watching like hawks.
Meanwhile, don’t blink on the personal surveillance front. This week’s bombshell reports from the European Times and Sakshi Post document how the Chinese Communist Party has expanded transnational repression right onto US soil. FBI agents in New York arrested two men operating a secret “service center” for the Ministry of Public Security, whose job was to threaten Chinese dissidents and push them to return home. The CCP uses legal intimidation—what analysts call “lawfare”—to silence overseas critics, pressure scholars, and manipulate extradition treaties. Chinese tech giants (think ByteDance, the parent of TikTok) are under scrutiny for potential data compliance with Beijing’s heavy hand—raising the stakes for app privacy, influence, and censorship.
In Taiwan, the past week has seen a hard escalation: hybrid warfare now mixes daily cyberattacks with direct intimidation of defense officials. Beijing just issued "wanted" notices for Taiwanese cyber officers and even orchestrated a plot targeting Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim. Think psychological warfare meets digital denial of service—a toxic blend aimed to destabilize.
The expert playbook? If you’re in critical infrastructure, adopt multi-factor authentication, patch exposure points like Exchange and SharePoint immediately, and tap into free DEF CON tooling where available. Policy analysts like Jiwon Ma push for state-level cyber regs as Congress debates national standards—so keep eyes on New York’s new water sector rules.
That’s a wrap for this week’s Digital Dragon Watch. Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss your China cyber fix. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
For more http://www.quietplease.ai
Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta