https://www.scmp.com/rss/307345/feed America's National Security Agency (NSA) is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defence responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence. The NSA is a key component of the US Intelligence community, which is headed by the Director of National Intelligence. By law, the NSA's intelligence gathering is limited to foreign communications, although there have been some incidents involving domestic collection,... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Reuters Reuters Congress passed a short extension to a high-profile surveillance law on Friday after failing to secure the long-term reauthorisation pushed by US President Donald Trump. The brief pause comes after a late-night attempt to reauthorise the law for ‌five years failed in the House. It sets up another round of wrangling over whether and how to reform what is known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the National Security Agency to surveil foreigners using data... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3350544/us-congress-extends-controversial-surveillance-law-10-days?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3350544/us-congress-extends-controversial-surveillance-law-10-days?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Apr 2026 18:27:55 +0000 Sameed Basha Sameed Basha Many American wars begin with the assumption that brute force will lead to a swift and decisive victory. While the US military is highly effective at conventional deterrence, it has consistently struggled to defeat adversaries employing asymmetric tactics. In conflicts such as Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, Washington repeatedly underestimated its adversaries by assessing their strength based on their ability to fight conventionally. Iran represents the most dangerous iteration of... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3345222/us-war-iran-isnt-likely-go-planned?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3345222/us-war-iran-isnt-likely-go-planned?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2026 12:30:08 +0000 Zhang Tong Zhang Tong A Chinese university has successfully flown its Feitian 2 hypersonic vehicle at a site in northwestern China, according to an announcement on the Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) website on Monday. The research team said the test represented the first successful acquisition of real-flight data for a rocket-based combined cycle (RBCC) engine using a kerosene-hydrogen peroxide propellant. The university’s statement said the test flight proved key capabilities, including... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3315819/chinas-feitian-2-hypersonic-vehicle-shows-critical-capabilities-test-flight?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3315819/chinas-feitian-2-hypersonic-vehicle-shows-critical-capabilities-test-flight?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:00:09 +0000 A senior Democrat linked political fallout from US President Donald Trump’s top officials’ use of Signal to discuss war plans to national security threats from China, warning that an “erosion of trust” among America’s intelligence officials emboldens attempts by Beijing and Moscow to recruit them. Grilling five of the nation’s spy chiefs, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, on Tuesday in a previously scheduled Senate Intelligence Committee... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3303871/democrat-ties-signal-chat-controversy-china-warning-about-recruitment-fired-us-workers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3303871/democrat-ties-signal-chat-controversy-china-warning-about-recruitment-fired-us-workers?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Mar 2025 17:48:15 +0000 US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday announced new leadership at the agency tasked with immigration enforcement as she also pledged to step up lie detector tests on employees to identify those who may be leaking information about operations to the media. “The authorities that I have under the Department of Homeland Security are broad and extensive and I plan to use every single one of them to make sure that we’re following the law, that we are following the procedures in place to... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/politics/article/3301712/us-security-chief-noem-taps-new-ice-leaders-moves-identify-leakers-lie-detectors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/politics/article/3301712/us-security-chief-noem-taps-new-ice-leaders-moves-identify-leakers-lie-detectors?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Mar 2025 20:52:49 +0000 A Washington-based think tank has proposed a major overhaul of the US Intelligence Community’s early-warning abilities to deter the People’s Liberation Army from forcibly taking Taiwan. The proposal written by Scott Berrier, a retired US Army lieutenant-general, and published on Thursday by the Atlantic Council, calls for a real-time, integrated intelligence system that spans all domains – space, cyber, air, sea and land. “The side that sees first decides first, and the one that acts first will... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3298717/us-intelligence-community-needs-upgrade-stop-beijing-forcibly-taking-taiwan-report?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3298717/us-intelligence-community-needs-upgrade-stop-beijing-forcibly-taking-taiwan-report?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Feb 2025 09:05:08 +0000 The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as US President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence after Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgment fell in line behind her nomination. Gabbard was an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the country’s 18 different intelligence agencies, given her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting she held with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and her previous support for government leaker... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3298439/us-senate-confirms-tulsi-gabbard-trumps-director-national-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3298439/us-senate-confirms-tulsi-gabbard-trumps-director-national-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Feb 2025 17:12:11 +0000 Bloomberg Bloomberg OpenAI is partnering with Anduril Industries to incorporate its artificial intelligence (AI) technology into the weapons maker’s anti-drone systems, marking the ChatGPT creator’s most significant push yet into the defence sector. Anduril will lean on OpenAI’s technology to better detect and respond to unmanned “aerial threats”, largely drones, which have become a central part of modern warfare, the two companies said on Wednesday. OpenAI will also use Anduril data to train its software for these... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3289506/openai-defence-tech-firm-anduril-team-build-ai-anti-drone-systems?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3289506/openai-defence-tech-firm-anduril-team-build-ai-anti-drone-systems?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Dec 2024 08:27:47 +0000 Stephen Chen Stephen Chen China and the United States boast the most formidable stealth fighter jets in the world – but which one reigns supreme? A team of Chinese military experts decided to find out, so they conducted a simulated battle between a J-20 of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and an F-22 of the US, setting the stage to the north of Taiwan. To be cautious, the Chinese jet’s technical specs, including radar prowess and stealth capabilities, were deliberately set lower than its American counterpart. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3288501/j-20s-vs-f-22-how-drones-flip-battle-mighty-stealth-fighters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3288501/j-20s-vs-f-22-how-drones-flip-battle-mighty-stealth-fighters?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Nov 2024 14:00:09 +0000 US President Joe Biden is “deeply concerned” about the release of classified documents on Israel’s preparation for a potential retaliatory attack on Iran, according to a White House spokesman. US officials confirmed on Saturday that the administration is investigating an unauthorised release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that the administration w as still not certain if the classified... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3283293/white-house-biden-concerned-about-release-documents-israels-possible-attack-plan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3283293/white-house-biden-concerned-about-release-documents-israels-possible-attack-plan?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Oct 2024 19:53:15 +0000 While the coordinated pager and walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon have now been overshadowed by the threat of a widespread conflict, the attacks reveal three disturbing trends with lingering implications for Southeast Asia. First, regardless of how the devices were rigged and detonated, it is clear that what goes on in the Levant does not stay in just the Levant. The trail of both types of communication devices implicates manufacturers across Asia and Europe. The alleged Taiwanese maker of the... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3280840/device-hijackings-explosion-risk-asias-electronics-industry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3280840/device-hijackings-explosion-risk-asias-electronics-industry?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Oct 2024 12:30:10 +0000 In the United States Congress, bills aimed at countering Chinese influence are generally bipartisan, and this coming week in the House of Representatives is all about China. The House is scheduled to consider more than two dozen China-related bills during what has been dubbed “China Week”, with most of them to be considered “under suspension of the rules”, which means that passage can be expedited with at least two-thirds of votes in favour. Coming two months ahead of the US presidential... https://www.scmp.com/plus/article/3277770/china-week-us-house-may-unleash-more-curbs-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/plus/article/3277770/china-week-us-house-may-unleash-more-curbs-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Sep 2024 09:02:56 +0000 North Korean hackers have conducted a global cyber espionage campaign in efforts to steal classified military secrets to support Pyongyang’s banned nuclear weapons programme, the United States, Britain and South Korea said in a joint advisory on Thursday. The hackers, dubbed Andariel or APT45 by cybersecurity researchers, are believed to be part of North Korea’s intelligence agency known as the Reconnaissance General Bureau, an entity sanctioned by the US in 2015. The cyber unit has targeted or... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3271927/north-korean-hackers-are-stealing-military-secrets-us-and-allies-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3271927/north-korean-hackers-are-stealing-military-secrets-us-and-allies-say?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Jul 2024 17:28:41 +0000 Controversial plans to give the US authorities greater surveillance powers highlight how its security priorities are shifting towards China and cybersecurity, analysts said. A vote on the bill – which sought to reauthorise a clause in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) expiring on December 31 – has been pulled following a fierce backlash from rights groups and privacy experts over data collection. As part of this process, earlier this month the House Permanent Select Committee on... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3244975/what-latest-us-privacy-row-says-about-washingtons-concerns-about-security-threats-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3244975/what-latest-us-privacy-row-says-about-washingtons-concerns-about-security-threats-china?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Dec 2023 14:00:19 +0000 Nearly a decade after documents leaked by Edward Snowden revealed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) hacked the servers of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, Beijing has officially acknowledged the attack. A Ministry of State Security report published on Wednesday said the NSA, through its Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO), “repeatedly carried out systematic and platform-based attacks” on China in an attempt to steal its “important data resources”. “In 2009, the [TAO] began to hack... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3235174/us-spy-agency-nsa-hacked-huawei-hq-china-confirms-snowden-leak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3235174/us-spy-agency-nsa-hacked-huawei-hq-china-confirms-snowden-leak?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Sep 2023 07:02:36 +0000 China says it has identified US National Security Agency operatives while investigating a recent cyberattack on Northwestern Polytechnical University, as its top spying and anti-espionage agency vowed on Thursday to root out all “digital spies”. The revelation came just three days after Beijing released more details about John Shing-wan Leung, a Hong Kong permanent resident and US citizen the Chinese Ministry of State Security said posed as a philanthropist while snooping for information. He was... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3234492/beijing-says-it-uncovered-us-national-security-agency-operatives-behind-cyberattack-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3234492/beijing-says-it-uncovered-us-national-security-agency-operatives-behind-cyberattack-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Sep 2023 05:05:31 +0000 The US warned Japan over the course of a year that Chinese state hackers had infiltrated its defence networks before Tokyo took sufficient action to try to secure them, according to current and former US officials. Senior US national security officials grew increasingly concerned that sensitive information that the US shares with some allies could be at risk as a result of the breach, which was discovered several years ago. That prompted multiple US delegations since 2020 to fly to Tokyo to warn... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3230445/us-warned-japan-china-was-hacking-its-defence-networks-officials-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3230445/us-warned-japan-china-was-hacking-its-defence-networks-officials-say?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Aug 2023 22:19:37 +0000 A human rights lawyer has accused the Hong Kong Bar Association of trying to stop him from practising in the city by using “false complaints” for his role in representing Edward Snowden and getting refugees to shelter the whistle-blower in 2013. Canadian Robert Tibbo said that in 2017 outgoing Bar Association chairwoman Winnie Tam Wan-chi and present Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok, her successor, initiated an internal disciplinary investigation against him. Snowden, a former contract... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3225589/whistle-blower-edward-snowdens-lawyer-accuses-hong-kong-bar-association-using-false-complaints-bid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3225589/whistle-blower-edward-snowdens-lawyer-accuses-hong-kong-bar-association-using-false-complaints-bid?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Jun 2023 10:01:10 +0000 Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday it had uncovered a US National Security Agency (NSA) plot using previously unknown malware to access specially made so-called back door vulnerabilities in Apple phones. The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said that several thousand Apple phones had been infected, including those of domestic Russian subscribers. The Russian spy agency also said telephones belonging to foreign diplomats based in Russia and the former Soviet... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3222639/russia-says-us-accessed-thousands-apple-phones-spy-plot?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3222639/russia-says-us-accessed-thousands-apple-phones-spy-plot?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Jun 2023 12:02:28 +0000 Suspected Chinese hackers allegedly breached the US Navy as part of a broader campaign that cybersecurity experts believe was intended to disrupt communications in the Pacific region ahead of a possible crisis. US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told CNBC on Thursday that the Navy was affected by a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group dubbed Volt Typhoon, which has been accused of breaching government, communications, manufacturing and IT organisations. Microsoft Corp., which named the group and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3222000/us-navy-hit-chinese-hacking-campaign-report-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3222000/us-navy-hit-chinese-hacking-campaign-report-says?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 May 2023 17:08:41 +0000 On the seismic scale of intelligence leaks, the latest from the Pentagon appears to be much less significant and damaging than those released by Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks in the past decade. It is still extremely embarrassing for Washington. A 21-year-old Air National Guardsman has been arrested. He was involved in a social media platform used by only dozens of people, where the documents first surfaced. Despite the arrest, it’s still unclear whether the leak was a hack or a disinformation... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3217155/us-intelligence-fiasco-wake-call-all?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3217155/us-intelligence-fiasco-wake-call-all?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Apr 2023 21:12:53 +0000 Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification. The popular short-video app TikTok has been made a target of the US witch hunt. TikTok, which joined the ranks of social media giants and gained about a billion monthly active users in 2021, has... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3215630/tiktok-just-another-chinese-scapegoat-us-witch-hunt?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3215630/tiktok-just-another-chinese-scapegoat-us-witch-hunt?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Apr 2023 06:30:12 +0000 US whistle-blower Edward Snowden has defended his choice to accept Russian citizenship against criticism. “I am in Russia because the White House deliberately cancelled my passport to detain me here,” Snowden tweeted. “They brought down the President of Bolivia’s diplomatic plane to prevent me from leaving the country and continue to impede my freedom of movement to this day.” Snowden was referring to a 2013 incident in which the Bolivian president’s plane was forced to touch down in Austria... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3201968/us-whistle-blower-snowden-defends-acceptance-russian-citizenship?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3201968/us-whistle-blower-snowden-defends-acceptance-russian-citizenship?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Dec 2022 15:28:37 +0000 The troubled US-China relationship recently acquired formal articulation through two major policy documents released within a week of each other – first, the US national security strategy report, then Xi Jinping’s report to China’s 20th party congress. Both are comprehensive and aimed at the domestic audience. As the world’s two largest economies with significant military and technological capabilities, their national strategies are framed against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine –... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3198026/wary-india-remains-caught-between-us-china-geopolitical-contest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3198026/wary-india-remains-caught-between-us-china-geopolitical-contest?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Nov 2022 17:00:20 +0000 Chinese cybersecurity company 360 Security Technology (Qihoo 360), which has been working with Beijing to track and expose American hackers attacking mainland targets, reported a wider net loss in the September quarter and the departure of its chief financial officer. Shanghai-listed Qihoo 360 on Thursday posted a net loss of 1.56 billion yuan (US$216 million) in the third quarter, compared with a 431 million yuan profit in the same period last year, that it attributed to declining sales and a... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3197660/chinese-security-firm-qihoo-360-which-helped-expose-us-cyberattacks-under-review-shanghai-after-big?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3197660/chinese-security-firm-qihoo-360-which-helped-expose-us-cyberattacks-under-review-shanghai-after-big?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Oct 2022 15:30:09 +0000 Chad Bray,Orange Wang Chad Bray,Orange Wang China is seeking to gain a “strategic advantage” by shaping the world’s technology ecosystems, from digital currencies to a rival to the United States’ global positioning system (GPS) of satellites, representing an “increasingly urgent problem” for Britain and its allies, according to a top British intelligence official. In a speech on Tuesday, Jeremy Fleming, director of Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), said the Communist Party’s efforts to shape and exert control... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3195606/china-seeks-strategic-advantage-through-technology-british-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3195606/china-seeks-strategic-advantage-through-technology-british-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Oct 2022 14:00:16 +0000 President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted Russian citizenship to former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, nine years after he exposed the scale of secret surveillance operations by the National Security Agency (NSA). Snowden, 39, fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after leaking secret files in 2013 that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the NSA, where he worked. US authorities have for years wanted him returned to the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3193894/vladimir-putin-grants-russian-citizenship-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3193894/vladimir-putin-grants-russian-citizenship-us?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Sep 2022 16:24:48 +0000 The US is readying new encryption standards that will be so ironclad that even the nation’s top code-cracking agency says it won’t be able to bypass them. The National Security Agency has been involved in parts of the process but insists it has no way of bypassing the new standards. “There are no back doors,” said Rob Joyce, the NSA’s director of cybersecurity at the National Security Agency, in an interview. A back door enables someone to exploit a deliberate, hidden flaw to break encryption.... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3177740/nsa-says-no-back-doors-its-new-encryption-scheme-designed-thwart?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3177740/nsa-says-no-back-doors-its-new-encryption-scheme-designed-thwart?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 May 2022 04:00:21 +0000 Sanctions have landed hard and fast on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Not only have the US and other Western governments inflicted economic punishment on Moscow, but many of the world’s biggest multinational companies, including ExxonMobil, Apple, General Motors and Disney, have joined unprecedented boycotts by stopping or curtailing business with and in Russia. This rare lock-step between Western governments and what are supposed to be apolitical private or publicly traded commercial... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3176458/why-us-sanctions-state-controlled-chinese-companies-smack-hypocrisy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3176458/why-us-sanctions-state-controlled-chinese-companies-smack-hypocrisy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 May 2022 19:30:25 +0000 Security researchers with US cybersecurity firm Symantec said they have discovered a “highly sophisticated” Chinese hacking tool that has been able to escape public attention for more than a decade. The discovery was shared with the US government in recent months, who have shared the information with foreign partners, said a US official. Symantec, a division of chip maker Broadcom, published its research about the tool, which it calls Daxin, on Monday. “It’s something we haven’t seen before,”... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3168740/sophisticated-new-chinese-hacking-tool-found?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3168740/sophisticated-new-chinese-hacking-tool-found?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Feb 2022 18:17:53 +0000 Cyberattacks can be divided into two categories: those conducted by criminals typically for monetary gain and those executed by state agencies and their proxies for national security and economic reasons. The distinction between the two is consequential. Governments are responsible for cybercrimes emanating from their territory and are obliged to identify, investigate and punish the perpetrators. A state-sponsored cyberattack is a whole different matter. A hack that is the work of a government... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3142447/how-us-shot-itself-foot-indictment-against-chinese-hackers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3142447/how-us-shot-itself-foot-indictment-against-chinese-hackers?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Jul 2021 17:30:17 +0000 The US National Security Agency (NSA) used a partnership with Denmark’s foreign intelligence unit to spy on senior officials of neighbouring countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Danish state broadcaster DR said. The findings are the result of a 2015 internal investigation in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service into NSA’s role in the partnership, DR said, citing nine unnamed sources with access to the investigation. According to the investigation, which covered the period... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3135415/united-states-spied-angela-merkel-and-european-allies-danish-help?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3135415/united-states-spied-angela-merkel-and-european-allies-danish-help?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 May 2021 21:47:08 +0000 A national terrorism alert issued on Friday warns that violent extremists may take advantage of the easing of pandemic restrictions to conduct attacks. The alert does not cite any specific threats. But it warns of potential danger from an increasingly complex and volatile mix that includes domestic terrorists inspired by various grievances, racial or ethnic hatred and influences from abroad. Those threats were exacerbated by Covid-19, which spawned conspiracy theories and deepened anger at the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3133574/us-issues-national-terrorism-alert-warning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3133574/us-issues-national-terrorism-alert-warning?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 May 2021 20:06:39 +0000 At least two groups of China-linked hackers have spent months using a previously undisclosed vulnerability in American virtual private networking devices to spy on the US defence industry, researchers and the devices’ manufacturer said Tuesday. Utah-based IT company Ivanti said in a statement the hackers took advantage of the flaw in its Pulse Connect Secure suite to break into the systems of “a very limited number of customers.” Ivanti said that while mitigations were in place, a fix for the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3130375/china-linked-hackers-used-vpn-flaw-target-us-defence-industry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3130375/china-linked-hackers-used-vpn-flaw-target-us-defence-industry?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Apr 2021 02:00:36 +0000 Chinese spies used code first developed by the US National Security Agency to support their hacking operations, Israeli researchers said on Monday, another indication of how malicious software developed by governments can boomerang against their creators. Tel Aviv-based Check Point Software Technologies issued a report noting that some features in a piece of China-linked malware it dubs “Jian” were so similar they could only have been stolen from some of the National Security Agency break-in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3122667/chinese-spies-used-code-copied-americas-nsa-hacking-operations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3122667/chinese-spies-used-code-copied-americas-nsa-hacking-operations?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Feb 2021 11:38:57 +0000 Russia was “pretty clearly” behind a devastating cyberattack on several US government agencies that also hit targets worldwide, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday, as the list of victims worldwide continues to grow, heightening fears over computer security and espionage. “There was a significant effort to use a piece of third-party software to essentially embed code inside of US government systems,” Pompeo said on The Mark Levin Show. “This was a very significant effort, and I think... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3114602/massive-cyberattack-grows-beyond-us-heightening?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3114602/massive-cyberattack-grows-beyond-us-heightening?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Dec 2020 21:38:52 +0000 This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Lara Seligman on politico.com on December 5, 2020. The Pentagon on Saturday pushed back strongly against reports that the Trump administration blocked the Biden-Harris transition team from meeting with defence intelligence agencies, insisting the Department of Defence is committed to a smooth handoff even as President Donald Trump still refuses to concede the election. The Washington Post and other... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3112745/pentagon-denies-blocking-biden-transition-team?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3112745/pentagon-denies-blocking-biden-transition-team?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Dec 2020 22:45:31 +0000 Hong Kong’s leader on Friday condemned the United States’ repeated interference in city affairs, calling for a “return to normalcy” regardless of who emerges victorious in the ongoing US presidential election. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also criticised the US for its “unreasonable” move to suspend certain bilateral agreements while speaking at a press briefing in Beijing – part of her current tour of mainland government agencies. “For the past year or so, the American... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3108820/carrie-lam-decries-us-interference-hong-kong-affairs-hopes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3108820/carrie-lam-decries-us-interference-hong-kong-affairs-hopes?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Nov 2020 10:33:50 +0000 After the US National Security Agency released a cybersecurity advisory this week warning of certain vulnerabilities exploited by Chinese state-backed hackers, China’s Foreign Ministry hit back. The US is an “empire of hacking”, ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said during a press conference on Wednesday, citing surveillance programmes unveiled by leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013. “It is indeed ironic news that the US National Security Agency, as the main implementer of the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3106613/china-calls-us-empire-hacking-following-nsa-advisory-accusing-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3106613/china-calls-us-empire-hacking-following-nsa-advisory-accusing-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:30:08 +0000 The US National Security Agency detailed 25 cyber vulnerabilities frequently used by Chinese state-sponsored hackers in an effort to alert computer security officials to update their systems. Most of the vulnerabilities “can be exploited to gain initial access to victim networks using products that are directly accessible from the internet and act as gateways to internal networks,” according to the NSA’s statement. The vulnerabilities listed by the agency are already publicly known, in software... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3106367/nsa-steps-out-shadows-spotlight-where-china-hackers-prowl?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3106367/nsa-steps-out-shadows-spotlight-where-china-hackers-prowl?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Oct 2020 01:24:11 +0000 With much pomp and circumstance, the United States has proposed to the world a brand new beginning, with the expansion of its “clean network” initiative. The enemy is China, which must be purged from the reconfigured internet. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the programme is a “comprehensive approach to guarding our citizens’ privacy and our companies’ most sensitive information from aggressive intrusions by malign actors, such as the Chinese Communist Party”, addressing “the long-term... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3098713/how-rise-chinese-tech-companies-offers-hope-clean-internet-ending?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3098713/how-rise-chinese-tech-companies-offers-hope-clean-internet-ending?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Aug 2020 19:30:12 +0000 US President Donald Trump announced that Richard Grenell, the US ambassador to Germany, will become acting director of national intelligence (DNI), a move that puts a staunch Trump ally in charge of the nation’s 17 spy agencies, which the president has only tepidly embraced. “Rick has represented our Country exceedingly well and I look forward to working with him,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday. Grenell follows Joseph Maguire, who has been acting national intelligence director since August. It was... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3051662/trumps-new-acting-spy-chief-richard-grenell-will?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3051662/trumps-new-acting-spy-chief-richard-grenell-will?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Feb 2020 14:15:40 +0000 The US government filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, alleging he violated non-disclosure agreements by publishing a memoir without giving the government an opportunity to review it first. The Justice Department is seeking to “recover all proceeds” from Snowden’s book, which was released on Tuesday. Snowden published his book, Permanent Record, without submitting it for a prepublication review, in violation of non-disclosure agreements he... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3027760/us-sues-whistle-blower-edward-snowden-over-new?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3027760/us-sues-whistle-blower-edward-snowden-over-new?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Sep 2019 18:51:31 +0000 Former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has written a memoir, telling his life story in detail for the first time and explaining why he chose to risk his freedom to become perhaps the most famous whistle-blower of all time. Snowden, who now lives in Russia to avoid prosecution in the United States, says his seven years working for the NSA and CIA led him to conclude the US intelligence community “hacked the Constitution” and put everyone’s liberty at risk and that he had no... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3027267/us-whistle-blower-edward-snowden-tells-life-story?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3027267/us-whistle-blower-edward-snowden-tells-life-story?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Sep 2019 12:24:12 +0000 Whistle-blower and former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has written a memoir. The book by the man whose leaks of classified documents transformed the debate about US government surveillance is coming out on September 17. Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers, announced on Thursday that Snowden’s Permanent Record will be released simultaneously in more than 20 countries, including the US, Germany and Britain. I wrote a book. pic.twitter.com/wEdlOFMnMn —... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3021072/whistle-blower-edward-snowden-describes-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3021072/whistle-blower-edward-snowden-describes-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Aug 2019 21:45:46 +0000 US President Donald Trump’s nomination of an inexperienced but loyal partisan to become the director of national intelligence (DNI) is an attempt to “neutralise” US spy agencies as an independent and objective voice on global affairs, former intelligence officials warned. It follows the announcement that Dan Coats, one of the most senior national security officials willing to contradict Trump, is to leave the post next month after disagreements with him over policy and intelligence, including on... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3020560/donald-trumps-spy-chief-pick-john-ratcliffe-attempt?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3020560/donald-trumps-spy-chief-pick-john-ratcliffe-attempt?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Jul 2019 21:07:04 +0000 If there is anything truly rare about rare earths, it must surely be the number of times any one of us ever thought or talked about them, until just a few months ago. But for some, rare earths have been front of mind for decades. China’s paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, who in 1987 visited Baotou in Inner Mongolia, noted later: “The Middle East has oil, China has rare earths.” In the United States, it seems rare earths has been a cottage industry for security strategists for decades. The more you... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3014652/us-china-rivalry-makes-rare-earths-matter-national-security-rather?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3014652/us-china-rivalry-makes-rare-earths-matter-national-security-rather?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Jun 2019 23:00:16 +0000 Washington has taken China-bashing to a surreal level. Borderline racist, it is now mostly fact-free. Allegations are made with no or the flimsiest evidence. When proof is requested, it makes threats to allies and rivals alike to accept them at face value, or else! A complacent mainstream American media can always be relied on to spread the propaganda by reporting out of context and focusing only on the most negative. The latest has to do with the Central Intelligence Agency, which has charged... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3007875/us-china-bashing-borderline-racist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3007875/us-china-bashing-borderline-racist?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Apr 2019 10:58:26 +0000 A major American telecommunications company discovered manipulated hardware from Super Micro Computer (Supermicro) in its network and removed it in August – fresh evidence of China tampering in critical technology components bound for the US, a security expert working for the company has said. The expert, Yossi Appleboum, provided documents, analysis and other evidence of the discovery that detailed how China’s intelligence services had ordered subcontractors to plant malicious chips in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2167737/new-evidence-chinese-tampering-supermicro-hardware-found-us-telecoms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2167737/new-evidence-chinese-tampering-supermicro-hardware-found-us-telecoms?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Oct 2018 18:30:08 +0000 This week, 600 delegates from the organisation that sets standards for the world’s telecommunications industry will meet on Australia’s Gold Coast. Their goal: to ensure that the next generation of mobile technology – 5G – will adequately serve the country’s businesses and households. Unfortunately, the Australian government has just made that outcome less likely. Amid a leadership shake-up last month, it blocked Huawei Technologies, a Chinese company whose technology underpins mobile broadband... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2164104/opinion-australia-should-reverse-its-huawei-5g-ban?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2164104/opinion-australia-should-reverse-its-huawei-5g-ban?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Sep 2018 22:30:30 +0000