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

So, listeners, imagine this: it’s Friday, July 25th, and the digital showdown between the US and China is somehow even messier and spicier than last week. I’m Ting, your resident cyber-guru, here to slice through the thicket of headlines, breaches, executive orders, and defensive geekery with a little sparkle—because, honestly, who said hacking news has to be dry?

Let’s waste zero time and get to the core. The big headline? This week marks the official rollout of the White House’s “Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan,” fresh off the presses on July 23rd. That’s over 90 new policy actions, and, not-so-coincidentally, a heavy focus on outmaneuvering China in the AI and cyber arms race. Picture this as a triple-decker sandwich: accelerate innovation, build impenetrable AI infrastructure, and flex international muscles. And yes, listeners, those muscles have China’s name all over them. The administration even put out three executive orders at the same time—one to block so-called “woke AI” in federal government, and another specifically to speed up building AI data centers faster than I can reset a password. Most importantly for us hackers-at-heart, it prioritizes new federal guidance on cybersecurity and launches an AI Information Sharing and Analysis Center within DHS, which is basically a cyber Batcave for US agencies and the private sector.

Now, speaking of the private sector, if your cloud runs on Microsoft SharePoint, you might want to sit down. Microsoft, already under fire for past vulnerabilities, reported last week that not one but two Chinese nation-state crews—Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon—have been exploiting flaws in on-prem SharePoint servers. There’s a third group, Storm-2603, trying classic ransomware tactics. Microsoft’s blog says only on-prem servers are hit, but let’s agree: not the summer vacation anyone wanted. This comes just as the Pentagon’s forced to do a hard reset: a bombshell investigation this week revealed China-linked engineers had, for over a decade, contributed to sensitive US military software through a major contractor. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put a stop to Chinese involvement in DOD cloud services—pronto—and ordered a complete review. National security insiders now call for a “cybersecurity mindset shift,” and frankly, I couldn’t agree more.

For the policy buffs: President Trump’s Executive Order 14306 last month, updating earlier directives, once again names China public enemy number one for cyber threats targeting US businesses and infrastructure. There’s also momentum for a public-private cybersecurity update via NIST’s Secure Software Development Framework, tightening how code is written and monitored—because surprise, surprise, we don’t want any more mystery “digital escorts” patching our defense networks.

Globally, the US continues its “tech decoupling” marathon—escalating bans on AI chips to China until there’s barely a trickle. And politically, US allies from Brussels to Tokyo are squeezed to support Washington’s measures or risk their own chip supplies. It’s not all one sided though; China is working its angles through regional partnerships in ASEAN and the Digital Silk Road—picture Beijing hosting cyber drills, shaking hands in Singapore, but always with an eye on influence.

The upshot is clear: we’re entering a new kind of arms race—one fought with updates, protocols, and legal frameworks, not just firewalls. And if you’re in tech, law, or just shopping for a super-secure VPN, you’d better stay nimble and read the fine print.

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

Let’s cut right to it, listeners: Today is July 23, 2025, and I’m Ting, your digital insider on all things US-China CyberPulse. And what a week it’s been! Early Monday, Pentagon boss Pete Hegseth ordered a top-down scrub of the Defense Department’s entire tech supply chain. Why? Thanks to a spicy ProPublica exposé, the Pentagon realized Microsoft had, unintentionally or not, let China-based engineers work on DOD cloud systems. Cue the alarms—Hegseth basically grabbed his digital megaphone (also known as X) and declared, “No more Chinese labor in our cloud services—period.” The Pentagon’s chief information officer, Dave McKeown, has 15 days to hammer out new protections. If anyone is still using legacy systems built back in the Obama era, it’s going to be a fun audit. Acting CIO Katie Arrington’s Software Fast Track, the FedRAMP cloud security process, and the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification are all getting beefed-up reviews to make sure there’s zero adversarial influence.

Now, the private sector isn’t exactly sleeping on this. Microsoft, in pure panic mode, rolled out urgent patches this week for SharePoint servers—a juicy target for three Chinese nation-state groups: Linen Typhoon, Violet Typhoon, and Storm-2603. These folks aren’t amateurs. Since July 7, they’ve been exploiting not one, but four critical SharePoint vulnerabilities. For anybody running on-prem SharePoint 2016, 2019, or Subscription Edition, Microsoft’s serving a buffet of security updates and basically screaming “Enable antimalware, rotate your machine keys, and restart IIS yesterday!” According to Cynthia Kaiser, formerly of the FBI, this is likely just the opening act—a longer campaign is expected.

Things got even curiouser on Capitol Hill. Nvidia and AMD got a surprise green light from President Trump’s White House to sell some high-end AI chips to China. The pivot comes after years of trying to freeze out China entirely, leaving many in Congress dizzy. John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi, the China Committee’s power duo, sound the alarm about “handing over advanced technology,” though, as historian Chris Miller reminds us, these chips aren’t the crown jewels. Still, with China feverishly building domestic tech, the policy flip-flops have industry and security hawks running circles around each other.

Internationally, this week’s SharePoint smash-and-grab sent CISA stomping its foot, ordering agencies to patch everything by today. Meanwhile, China, ever the diplomatic acrobat, publicly denied any role in the wave of global hacking, calling allegations “unfounded” and pushing for, you guessed it, more international cyber-cooperation. No surprise there!

On tech defense, the Trump administration’s new AI Action Plan pushes both the government and the private sector to lock down critical infrastructure with AI-driven tools. The mantra is “secure-by-design” for all new systems, even though funding, definitions, and standards remain fuzzy. The AI Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a new creature from the Department of Homeland Security, aims to unite industry and government on AI-related cyber intel. Great in theory, but I’ll believe the bots are protecting our power grid when they can outsmart prompt injection and data poisoning.

That wraps a wild week in the cyber trenches. Listeners, thanks for riding the pulse with me. Don’t forget to subscribe, and always patch before you relax. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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

Listeners, Ting here—your friendly China-tech whisperer with a knack for hacking headlines and decoding cyber chess moves. It's July 21, 2025, and this past week in the US-China CyberPulse has been more electric than a lightning storm over Silicon Valley.

First, let’s talk about the Pentagon plot-twist that nobody saw coming but everyone should have. Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, appeared on video like an irate sysadmin and revealed that China-based labor—including engineers from Microsoft’s own ranks—had been working, albeit indirectly, on sensitive U.S. military cloud systems. The bombshell: those digital “escorts” meant to oversee the process often didn’t have the technical chops to assess what they were greenlighting into the Defense Department’s crown jewels. Within hours, Microsoft’s Frank Shaw was in damage control, announcing an abrupt end to any and all Chinese engineering input for Pentagon clouds, and Hegseth launched a sweeping, two-week review of every cloud touchpoint in the DoD. Turns out, a legacy setup dating back more than a decade was the open window that no one thought to close—and now America is scrambling for the deadbolt.

While the cloud was storming, the Justice Department rolled out its new Data Security Program with enforcement as sharp as a dragon’s tooth. If you’re moving data that might land in Beijing—even if it’s encrypted and disguised like a digital chameleon—you better have your compliance story straight, because violations now invite either eye-watering fines or 20 years behind bars. DOJ has made clear: US personal and government-related data leaking to China or any ‘Country of Concern’ is now very much a national emergency.

On the tech export front, the tug-of-war over AI chips raged on. The Bureau of Industry and Security released new guidance—targeting the peril of U.S. advanced chips like NVIDIA’s infamous H20 being used to train Chinese AI, even as the Trump administration made abrupt about-faces on export approvals. The dance is dizzying: on one hand, U.S. officials scolded China (and Huawei in particular) for grabbing at high-performance semiconductors; on the other, American chipmakers fought like caffeinated pandas to hang onto their market share. Expect more whiplash as diplomatic trade-offs—rare earths for EDA software, anyone?—tangle with Washington’s hawkish security policies.

Meanwhile, on the Chinese side, the government doubled down on its own obsession with data sovereignty. July saw another sweep of regulatory crackdowns: heavy fines for tech firms hoarding personal information, and the expanded Counter-Espionage Law now looms over all sorts of cross-border consultancy data flows. Foreign firms in China are on eggshells—one wrong step and your innocent database is suddenly “national security” material.

When it comes to alliances, the global cyber arms race is in full swing. The US this week pressed allies to ban Chinese 5G and cloud kit from their networks, just as China inked glitzy new AI research deals with Indonesia and the UAE. Oh, and lest you missed it, President Trump’s monster investment safari in Saudi Arabia is billed as “countering Chinese digital influence”—because in 2025, sig of partnership is as likely to be found in code commits as in oil barrels.

But here’s the real pulse, listeners: for all the new policies, billions in funding, and shiny technologies, nothing matters if vulnerabilities are hiding in plain sight—from legacy IT to foreign code in our backyard. America’s cyber posture is finally pivoting—hard—from defense to offense, with new investments in tools, talent, and operational speed to claw back the initiative from China’s Volt Typhoon playbook. Adversaries, after all, respect force, not fingers wagged.

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Alright, listeners, Ting here—your cyber-sleuth with just enough sass to keep tech talk interesting. Let’s plug straight into this week’s charged circuit of US-China CyberPulse: Defense Updates. The past few days in cyberland have been about as chill as a motherboard running Crysis at max settings—so let’s download the highlights.

Let’s start deep underwater—literally. FCC chief Brendan Carr just announced that submarine internet cables are officially on notice. These sea snakes, built with Chinese gear from players like Huawei and ZTE, carry 99% of our internet traffic. After the “rip and replace” crackdown on Chinese tech in 5G networks, now we’re talking “Rip and Replace 2.0,” but with subsea cables. Why? Fresh memories of China’s Volt Typhoon operation—think cyber ninjas sneaking into US critical infrastructure for not just snooping, but actual sabotage. Carr wants to keep adversary eyes—and backdoors—out of our data streams, even if swapping out those cables feels like doing heart surgery at the bottom of the ocean.

Headquarters in the cloud? Microsoft just axed Chinese engineers from supporting Pentagon tech after a ProPublica exposé showed they could patch Defense Department cloud systems, monitored only by “digital escorts”—US citizens with clearances but sometimes left copy-pasting arcane code they couldn’t decipher. That’s like letting someone rewire your house blindfolded because they promise they’re good at guessing. Senator Tom Cotton freaked, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth kicked off a full probe, and Microsoft scrambled to re-route all support to US-based staff. Yes, it’ll cost more, but letting foreign adversaries peek behind the green curtain is way pricier—just ask anyone still cleaning up after the SolarWinds mess.

Keeping cyber armor shiny, the Department of Justice’s new data flows rule came into effect this spring. The aim? Preventing the sale, licensing, or even employment contracts that could give China—or Russia, Cuba, you name it—access to Americans’ sensitive data or the keys to powerful AI training sets. If your company touches a million US person records or more, welcome to compliance boot camp: audits, internal reviews, rigorous record-keeping. It’s not just about “data brokers” anymore—it’s the whole business ecosystem getting a digital pat-down.

In the private sector, blockchain is having a comeback moment. The Deploying American Blockchains Act of 2025 just breezed through Congress, pushing for a national blockchain strategy led by Commerce Secretary (take a bow, whoever you are). The idea? Fortify critical infrastructure, not just digital assets, and give private companies the foundation—and the code—for keeping up with China in this cryptographically charged arms race.

Meanwhile, international cooperation just took its own spin in July. US and Chinese officials eased up on AI chip export bans and ultra-sensitive design software, trading rare earths for chips at the negotiation table—so, at least for now, the “chip wars” are on ice. Don’t get too cozy, though; suspicion still runs hotter than a GPU mining for Dogecoin.

All of this, listeners, underlines one point: the attack surface is only getting broader, the regulations sharper, and the tech stakes higher. If you don’t want your data—or your grid—commandeered by the next Volt Typhoon, now’s the time to patch up, lock down, and maybe double-check who’s patching your clouds.

That’s it for US-China CyberPulse this week. Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe for your weekly byte of real talk. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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

Hi listeners, Ting here—your cyber confidant and decoder of all things US-China CyberPulse! The headlines this week? Congress and the White House have been locked in a digital thunder dome while hackers and diplomats watch with popcorn in hand. I’ll dive straight into the whirlwind that’s been US cyber defense against Chinese threats, so buckle up.

Top of the drama chart: Congress just dropped the bipartisan No Adversarial AI Act. This bill aims to slap a hard ban on any AI tools developed by China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea from being used by the US government—unless it’s for critical missions. If you’re keeping score, the main target right now is DeepSeek, which the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party just called “a profound threat” to national security. The idea is to build a ‘federal firewall’ that’s so solid, even your grandma’s firewall would be jealous. Designated offices would now have to keep a public list of adversary-linked AI and make sure Uncle Sam stays clear. The message? If your AI says ni hao, dasvidaniya, or salām, it’s probably not welcome in the federal sandbox.

But plot twist! The Trump administration this week rolled back export restrictions on Nvidia, green-lighting the sale of H20 AI chips to China. Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang confirmed the move, which basically hands DeepSeek exactly the kind of hardware it needs to power up. So on one hand, Congress is building sandbags against Chinese AI, and on the other, the executive branch just turned on the faucet. It’s cyber Jenga at the highest level.

While DC is playing ping pong, the State Department is playing Operation—badly. July 11 saw a wave of firings and the dissolution of its Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy. Strategic cyber diplomats like Liesyl Franz are out, gutting America’s global cyber diplomacy at a time when cross-border teamwork is basically oxygen for cyber defense. With a smaller team, the US will find it harder to unite international partners against next-gen threats, especially with China quietly offering itself to the world as a noninterventionist digital savior.

The FCC is also on the move with new proposals to secure submarine cables against foreign adversaries—think ‘presumption of denial’ for Chinese contractors, plus bans on “covered equipment” in this critical infrastructure. Since these cables ferry 99% of the world’s internet traffic, sabotage here would be digital armageddon.

Meanwhile, in the private sector, trust is becoming the main currency. US tech giants are still seen as independent from the government, which makes them more attractive to global customers than China’s state-linked firms. But if Washington steps too far into deploying offensive cyber or strong-arming industry, there’s a risk that the US image as a trusted cyber partner could take a hit, pushing other nations to consider “the Huawei option”—less cutting-edge, but no political strings attached.

Internationally, America is pivoting to tie up chip and compute capacity in the Gulf, hoping alliances with Saudi Arabia and the UAE will act as a buffer against Beijing’s digital expansion. But should the situation escalate in the Middle East—think a breakdown of the Israel-Iran ceasefire—all bets are off and critical projects could stall, rebalancing the entire tech landscape.

Thanks for tuning in to this week’s ride through the intersection of policy, tech, and global strategy! Don’t forget to subscribe and keep your firewalls up and your news feeds refreshed. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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

Alright listeners, Ting here—hacker at heart, cyber-sleuth by trade, and your guide to the riveting highs, lows, and “did they really do that?” moments on the US-China CyberPulse. And wow, did the cyber world bring some serious fireworks this week.

Let’s get right to it. The news breaking late yesterday? The Pentagon. Yes, our very own Department of Defense—turns out it’s been giving Microsoft engineers based in mainland China a backstage pass to some of their cloud computing systems for nearly a decade. You'd think with all our acronyms—DOD, NSA, DoJ—we’d have better alphabet soup protection! But as ProPublica reports, these Chinese engineers had indirect hands-on with “High Impact Level” military data under what the DOD optimistically calls 'digital escorts.' Sadly, these escorts often didn’t know enough to spot a digital Trojan horse from a typo. So, the Pentagon found itself relying on trust, not tech, to keep Beijing at bay.

Meanwhile, Microsoft was already under fire for previous Chinese-linked breaches—remember the BeyondTrust incident at the Treasury Department? Allegedly, attackers wormed into Secretary Janet Yellen’s own digital files. If you’re keeping score: espionage one, federal oversight zero.

On the home front, the Federal Communications Commission’s shiny new Council on National Security is locking down telecom supply chains. Brendan Carr made it clear: banning foreign testing labs, tightening undersea cable rules, and creating a two-tiered club—“secure” vendors versus “see ya later.” The goal? Keep nation-state snoops like China from sneaking their tech into the nation’s digital arteries. ISPs are now required to submit security blueprints, but personal cyber hygiene is still your job—don’t be that person who makes “password123” famous.

And in Congress, the Chip Security Act is the hot new thing, aiming to thwart AI chip smuggling to China by slapping advanced semiconductors with location-verification features. But cybersecurity pros are worried—won’t this just give hackers another target and make things worse for US and allied systems? Secure chips are good. Chips that broadcast their every move—not so much.

On data frontiers, the Department of Justice rolled out new rules barring US companies from brokering your sensitive personal data to “countries of concern”—think China, Russia, the usual suspects. This now covers not just brokers but anyone doing vendor deals, investments, or employment contracts involving data. Don’t expect to TikTok your tax returns anywhere near ByteDance without some heavy red tape.

Meanwhile, Chinese state-backed hacker group Salt Typhoon leveled up, breaching a US state’s Army National Guard, scooping admin credentials and network blueprints. It’s a chilling sign every network has to assume the bad guys are inside and ready to strike. Gary Barlet, ex-Air National Guard and now Illumino’s CTO, was blunt: “Assume your network's compromised and will be degraded.” Stay paranoid, my friends.

On a brighter note, industrial collaboration in the Indo-Pacific is going deeper than ever. The US, Australia, and India are cranking up joint defense manufacturing—think drone supply chains, missile coproduction, repair hubs—so when China tries to dominate, they’ll find the shop closed.

Alright, cyber warriors, that wraps your pulse-check on a week that proves vigilance isn't just a buzzword—it's job one. Thanks for tuning in. Hit subscribe or risk missing the next plot twist. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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

It’s Ting here and yes, I am caffeinated, firewalled, and ready to zap you straight into the heart of this week’s US-China CyberPulse. Hang on, because this digital drama just leveled up.

Hot off the press: the 90-day grace period for the Justice Department’s sweeping new data security rules just ended. That means every US company handling bulk sensitive data—from health records to biometric info—had to lock down against foreign access, with China topping the “countries of concern” list. If you’ve been snoozing, the DOJ’s Data Security Program now comes with real teeth, enforcing restrictions on any data transaction that could let adversaries tap into Americans’ most personal info. So, if your company’s vendor has a faint scent of Alibaba or Tencent on its ownership paperwork, start sweating—fines and federal scrutiny just became your new daily vitamins.

Meanwhile, President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” landed like a quantum-encrypted sledgehammer on the tech sector. There’s now a tidal wave of federal funding, juicy tax credits, and R&D money for US-based AI infrastructure, data centers, and semiconductors. But here’s the catch: your supply chain better be cleaner than your browser history. “Prohibited foreign entities” (read: Chinese partners) are strictly out. Forget tech licensing deals with Chinese companies—the rules are so strict they’d give your compliance officer nightmares. Even royalty agreements and software service contracts can nix your eligibility for funding if there’s a hint of Chinese control.

Now, let’s talk government strategy. Washington isn’t just shoring up defenses—it’s going on the cyber-offensive. The Trump administration has greenlit a jaw-dropping $1 billion for “offensive cyber operations,” mostly pointed at the Indo-Pacific, and yes, that means China. But here’s the twist: this budget increase for digital saber-rattling was balanced by cuts to defensive cybersecurity programs, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. That’s like buying a new tank and selling your body armor to pay for it. Not everyone’s thrilled—Senator Ron Wyden called it an open invitation for digital retaliation, and he’s not alone in sounding the alarm.

So, has there been any progress on international cooperation? Let’s put it this way: at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur, the US and China couldn’t even agree on lunch, let alone cyber norms. The golden era of the US-China Cyber Working Group and the Xi-Obama cyber theft deal? Ancient history, buried under today’s tariffs and tit-for-tat hacking accusations. Now both sides spend more energy blaming each other for state-sponsored cyber offensives than building the trust needed to actually fix things.

That leaves the private sector scrambling for solutions. American companies are pumping R&D into AI-driven cybersecurity, advanced analytics, and resilient network architecture like there’s no tomorrow. Google execs are practically shouting from rooftops that only by harnessing commercial innovation can America keep up with China’s warp-speed advances in AI and 5G.

For all my tech-head listeners, the stakes couldn’t be higher. China’s government is pouring trillions into becoming a global S&T powerhouse, with 5G, AI, and biotech dominating its GDP by next year. The US still leads in AI software and semiconductor design, but China’s central planning delivers rapid-fire infrastructure at scale. The global digital battlefield is set, and whoever shapes the rules, wins the future.

Thanks for tuning in to US-China CyberPulse—don’t forget to subscribe and catch every byte. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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

Hi listeners, it’s Ting here with another CyberPulse update—because honestly, who has time for a slow start when the digital battleground between the US and China is moving at warp speed? I’m talking new defenses, fresh drama, and some serious tech muscle flexing.

This week kicked off with a bang, literally—for the FBI and cybersecurity nerds, at least. Italian authorities nabbed Zewei Xu, a member of China’s Silk Typhoon (also called Hafnium by Western sleuths) at Milan’s Malpensa Airport, all thanks to a US arrest warrant. TechRadar says Xu is accused of hacking into thousands of email accounts, including COVID-19 vaccine research at the University of Texas. The FBI isn’t playing—just last week, they offered $10 million for info on another Chinese cyber-espionage group. This is serious business, folks, and it’s shaping US defense strategy in real time.

Speaking of strategy, Washington is doubling down on protecting its critical infrastructure. According to Atlantic Council, Congress is working hard to upgrade cybersecurity information sharing, especially for small and medium businesses, which are often left in the dark. The House select committee on China just introduced a bill to beef up the National Security Agency’s mission to detect and counter AI and cyber threats. And let’s not forget Pentagon’s Blue UAS program—a curated list of US-made drones to help wean public-sector contracts off Chinese tech, especially from DJI, whose dominance is now under fire.

On the private sector side, big names like Google are being praised for blocking digital scams aimed at older Americans—InsideAIPolicy reports bipartisan applause for that move. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission under Brendan Carr is pushing for high-speed infrastructure, key for next-gen cyber defenses. If you’re watching the telecom world, T-Mobile just got DOJ approval to buy UScellular, further consolidating the US market, which has its own cybersecurity implications as fewer players control more critical infrastructure.

Let’s talk international. The US is pressing Japan and Australia for clarity on their roles in any US-China face-off, according to a Financial Times report highlighted by Global Times. There’s also a new bilateral security deal between Japan and Australia, covering everything from military ops to cybersecurity and space—yup, the digital battlefield is getting crowded.

Emerging tech is the wild card. The US is betting big on AI-driven cyber protections and next-gen encryption, while China keeps investing in swarm networking and AI-powered drones, according to sources like English.CNIPA.gov and TechShakeUp. The US is also tightening export controls on high-end semiconductors, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang getting a warning letter from Senators Jim Banks and Elizabeth Warren about his China trip—no meetings with military-linked or sanctioned companies, please.

So what’s the vibe? The US is hardening its cyber shell, rallying allies, and betting on tech innovation to stay ahead. China’s pushing back, but US firms, lawmakers, and agencies are clearly in high gear. Stay tuned for more twists—cyberwar never sleeps.

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

Hey listeners, it’s Ting, your go-to for all things China, cyber, and hacking — and wow, I hope you’ve had your coffee, because the US-China CyberPulse has been on overdrive this week.

Let’s jump right into the action. The DOJ dropped the kid gloves on July 8, officially ending its 90-day grace period for the Data Security Program, or DSP. Now, if your company has been letting sensitive data pass through to China, Russia, or a handful of other adversaries, you could be facing serious heat — think multi-million-dollar fines and up to 20 years in federal prison. So if you’re a CISO, and your vendor list includes anyone tied to mainland China, Hong Kong, or even Macau, you might want to clear your calendar for, I don’t know, the rest of the decade. The era of “good faith efforts” is over; now the DOJ expects airtight compliance and has the muscle to back it.

Congress is also flexing. The Senate Armed Services Committee is cranking up pressure on the Department of Defense to develop a comprehensive cyber deterrence strategy targeting China, especially after eye-popping intrusions by Chinese threat groups like Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon. These aren’t your “steal-the-blueprints and run” crews — Volt Typhoon was digging into US maritime infrastructure in Guam, aiming to disrupt military mobilization, while Salt Typhoon was nosing through telecom networks for espionage opportunities. Senators are adamant that the Pentagon get proactive, and the word is out: cyber deterrence is now front and center in national defense.

Meanwhile, the FCC under Jessica Rosenworcel is modernizing its own rules and launched a new Council on National Security to choke off supply chain risks and spy holes in US tech and telecom. And over at the Department of Agriculture, the USDA just rolled out a plan to shield US farmland from Chinese cyber intrusions and block Beijing’s efforts to buy up American agricultural real estate. Why the paranoia? Farms are now decked out with GPS, AI, and networked drones — and if Chinese hackers flip the switch, you could see disruptions that reach from seed to supermarket shelf.

On the innovation front, the National Science Foundation just issued funding to create new AI security frameworks with international partners, a clever countermove to China’s own AI export blitz. These alliances don’t just beef up defenses but set global norms, so hacks and sabotage have fewer places to hide. And if you’re an MBA trying to hack it in cyber, Florida International University is running bootcamps in D.C. that blend tech, policy, and business, prepping the next wave of cyber leaders who actually get the geopolitical stakes.

And yes, the information sharing floodgates are wide open — the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act is sunsetting soon, but for now, it’s still empowering both public and private sectors to swap intelligence on threats and defenses, keeping that cyber pulse beating strong.

Alright, that’s your US-China CyberPulse. Thanks for tuning in, don’t forget to subscribe for your weekly dose of wit, wisdom, and hacks. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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

Hey listeners, Ting here! The cyber-beat’s been wild this week, so slide up close—let’s crack open the latest US–China CyberPulse: Defense Updates. Spoiler: it’s been a high-stakes chess match of code, laws, and political muscle, sprinkled with just enough drama to keep even your grandma’s firewall on edge.

Let’s start with a headline act: Xu Zewei, a 33-year-old Chinese national, found himself snapped up by Italian police on July 3 at Uncle Sam’s request. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Xu is allegedly a key player in the Hafnium campaign—the same operation that hammered Microsoft Exchange servers in 2020 and 2021. He’s charged with stealing critical COVID-19 research from American universities, all working under the shadow of China’s Ministry of State Security. The US Department of Justice wants him extradited for a nine-count indictment, while his buddy Zhang Yu has gone full ghost mode, still at large. Xu claims mistaken identity and lost phones, but the Feds, with help from Italy, are treating this as a symbolic takedown and a flex for international law enforcement teamwork. Experts, though, say Hafnium is hydra-headed—chop off one and more pop up, so the battle continues.

Zooming out, Washington’s rolling out what can only be described as a cybersecurity grand strategy buffet. The key ingredients? Economic decoupling, high-tech export controls, and a real focus on military posturing in the Indo-Pacific region. The goal is simple: fence off China from advanced tech—think semiconductors, AI, quantum—and avoid letting Chinese firms (cough, Huawei and TikTok) munch on American data snacks. This new approach isn’t just about playing defense. The US is using high-level alliances and multilateral agreements, especially with “friendshoring” partners, to build layered resilience into supply chains. If chips from Taiwan or servers from Korea keep American secrets safer, that’s where the money’s flowing.

Private sector? Oh, they’re in full paranoia mode, but for solid reasons. Right now, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies is urging the FCC to yank existing equipment authorizations for Chinese companies like Huawei, ZTE, and Hikvision. Why? There are thousands of legacy devices in US networks, all with potential backdoors, and unless those get unplugged, adversaries have a standing invitation into the network party. The proposed fix is a total transparency overhaul: trace every component, not just finished products, and demand aggressive disclosure of foreign partnerships. If you’re a manufacturer or importer, get ready to lay your supply chain cards face-up.

But plot twist—the backbone for sharing threat info between the private sector and government is under threat itself. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, which gives companies legal cover to swap intel on active threats and defenses, is set to expire in three months. If Congress doesn’t re-up soon, companies might clam up, and that’s a recipe for disaster. Tech leaders and the US Chamber of Commerce are basically shouting from the rooftops: let this lapse, and you might as well hang a “hack me” sign on America’s data.

Meanwhile, China’s not just sitting back—President Xi Jinping’s Global Security Initiative is out there selling Beijing’s vision as a multilateral security leader and technology standard bearer, especially across Asia and the Global South. The US and China are jousting not only over networks but over who sets the rules and writes the future.

Thanks for tuning in, cyber sleuths. Don’t forget to subscribe—this has been a Quiet Please production. For more, check out quietplease dot ai.

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