This is your US-China CyberPulse: Defense Updates podcast.

It’s Ting here, your one-woman CyberPulse! Let’s just cut straight to the chase, because this week in US-China cyber defense? Absolute mayhem, major headlines, and more TikTok drama than my aunt’s group chat.

First, let’s talk TikTok, because nobody can ignore a saga with 170 million app users, three congressional deadlines, and a Trump-Xi phone call to top it off. After months locked in a diplomatic cage match, the US struck a deal to transfer TikTok’s American operations to a new, domestically owned company. Six out of seven board seats will go to Americans with heavy-hitter credentials in cybersecurity and national security. Oracle, taking the wheel for data and security, will ensure that the mysterious US-facing algorithm stays firmly on our side of the firewall. What about ByteDance? Their slice of the pie drops to under 20 percent, and—at least per White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt—China gets exactly zero seats on the security committee. Beijing’s Commerce Ministry politely repeated that China wants “balanced interests,” but you can practically hear the sound of tech decoupling echoing all over Silicon Valley. This TikTok deal is a firewall in shiny new wrapping, with ongoing US government audits and compliance checks to keep it tight.

Over on the threat front, say a very not-so-warm hello to TA415, a China-aligned cyber threat group. They’ve been spamming spearphishing campaigns at US government, academic, and think tank targets using themes ripped straight from US-China economic policy debates. How did they do it? By pretending to be legit folks like the US-China Business Council or the Strategic Competition Committee chair—classic catfish energy, but with malware as the bait. The “creativity” didn’t stop there. Hive0154, aka Mustang Panda, dropped a new ‘Toneshell9’ backdoor and rolled out a USB worm called SnakeDisk that only triggers in Thailand. This thing scans for USB devices and sneaks in the Yokai backdoor, turning your thumb drive into a saboteur—all while slipping past major antivirus tools.

So, how’s Team USA holding the digital line? It’s regulation and innovation at every level. The SEC’s new Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit—imagine 30 white-hat cyber-geeks in a bunker—now has the legal muscle to whack crypto scams, social media manipulation, and, yes, state-backed hackers. Two new laws, the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act, lock down crypto exchanges with AML/KYC rules and force stablecoin transparency. Meanwhile, the White House dropped a fresh Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rule outright banning Chinese government-connected telecom equipment throughout US networks.

And let’s not forget the tech—post-quantum encryption research is kicking into high gear, since everyone from IBM to the White House knows China could be pilfering encrypted data today, planning to crack it when quantum computers are ready for cyber prime time.

Even outside of Washington, international partnerships are getting serious. At conferences from Singapore to Berlin, there’s more cyber-ops table talk than a DefCon afterparty. ASEAN, the EU, and other allies are trading playbooks, tightening up supply chains, and investing in threat monitoring platforms that make 2020’s defenses look like a rusty mailbox.

That covers your whirlwind tour across this week in US-China CyberPulse. Thanks for tuning in—don’t forget to subscribe for more witty takes and hard facts from yours truly, Ting. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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