{"id":38515,"date":"2022-07-07T09:54:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T09:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cloudnewshub.com\/archives\/38515"},"modified":"2022-07-07T09:54:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T09:54:00","slug":"mi5-fbi-chiefs-warn-of-chinese-cyber-espionage-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloudnewshub.com\/?p=38515","title":{"rendered":"MI5, FBI chiefs warn of Chinese cyber espionage threat"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ken McCallum, director general of MI5<\/a>, and Chris Wray, director of the US\u2019s FBI<\/a>, have warned of the growing threat posed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to UK and US interests, in an unprecedented joint address in London.<\/p>\n

Speaking on 6 July at Thames House, McCallum said the two were speaking out to send \u201cthe clearest signal they can\u201d on the challenges posed by an increasingly assertive Chinese regime.<\/p>\n

He described this challenge as a planned, professional and strategic geopolitical contest unfolding across decades, with a regime that is \u201ccovertly applying pressure across the globe\u201d.<\/p>\n

McCallum said the world-leading expertise, technology, research and commercial advantage developed and held by the UK\u2019s academic and business communities was at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly in his time as leader, President Xi said that in areas of core technology where it would otherwise be impossible for China to catch up with the West by 2050, they \u2018must research asymmetrical steps to catch up and overtake\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cThe scale of ambition is huge. And it\u2019s not really a secret. Any number of public strategic plans, such as Made in China 2025, show the intent plainly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means standing on your shoulders to get ahead of you. It means that if you are involved in cutting-edge tech, AI [artificial intelligence], advanced research or product development, the chances are your know-how is of material interest to the CCP.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if you have, or are trying for, a presence in the Chinese market, you\u2019ll be subject to more attention than you might think. It\u2019s been described as \u2018the biggest wealth transfer in human history\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to McCallum, the risks are manifold, the most blatant one being in the form of covert theft, using active intelligence officers in the field. But organisations must also be mindful of legitimate intellectual property (IP) transfer through business partnerships and acquisition; the exploitation of academic researchers; the cultivation and flattery of individuals of interes<\/a>t, often using social networks such as LinkedIn; and of course the CCP\u2019s use of advanced persistent threat (APT) groups to conduct targeted cyber attacks.<\/p>\n

Wray said: \u201cThe Chinese government sees cyber as the pathway to cheat and steal on a massive scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast spring, for instance, Microsoft disclosed some previously unknown vulnerabilities targeting Microsoft Exchange Server software<\/a> [ProxyLogon]. Chinese hackers had leveraged these vulnerabilities to install more than 10,000 web shells, or backdoors, on US networks, giving them persistent access to data on those systems. That is just one example of the Chinese government finding and exploiting vulnerabilities, albeit a big one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wray added: \u201cOver the last few years, we\u2019ve seen Chinese state-sponsored hackers relentlessly looking<\/a> for ways to compromise unpatched network devices and infrastructure. And Chinese hackers are consistently evolving and adapting their tactics to bypass defences. They even monitor network defender accounts and then modify their campaign, as needed, to remain undetected. They merge their customised hacking toolset with publicly available tools native to the network environment \u2013 to obscure their activity by blending into the \u2018noise\u2019 and normal activity of a network.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCallum and Wray urged organisations to work with their two agencies to guard against CCP-backed espionage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can arm you with intelligence that bears on just what it is you\u2019re facing,\u201d said Wray. \u201cFor example, when it comes to the cyber threat, everything from details about how Chinese government hackers are operating to what they are targeting. And when incidents do occur, we can work together \u2013 our agencies and you \u2013 to degrade the threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCallum set out a series of questions that organisations\u2019 leadership should be asking, preferably involving IT security leadership:<\/p>\n