6/19/2013

A case of the thief crying. US hypocrisy on Cyber Hacking



A case of the thief crying

Updated: 2013-06-19 08:55
By Wang Hui ( China Daily)
Since Edward Snowden, the former US government subcontractor, stepped into the media limelight to reveal secret US surveillance programs less than two weeks ago, the war of words between the United States and China over cybersecurity has taken an abrupt turn. While watching the Snowden drama continue to unfold, the world has a chance to contemplate the US' hypocrisy and urge the country to stop peeping into other people's backyards.
In the past few months, high-ranking US officials had ratcheted up their accusations about cyberattacks and even cyber espionage allegedly by China. They claimed the Chinese government and military were behind the alleged wrongdoings. Such finger-pointing has cast a shadow on the generally rosy picture of China-US relations as it has helped whip up a new round of anti-China sentiment in the US.
China has repeatedly denied the US' accusations and the world's sole superpower has failed to provide any tenable evidence to justify its allegations. Beijing has offered to cooperate with Washington over cybersecurity issues as it, too, is a victim of cyberattacks. Yet it seems Beijing has been talking to deaf ears. Worse, with Western companies dominating the global media apparatus, Beijing's rebuttals and tangible concerns have more often than not been drowned out by the biased one-sided chorus of US politicians and the Western media, which have been loudly trumpeting a cyber threat from China.
Had it not been for the Snowden drama, the world might have remained ignorant of the fact that the US' holy-than-thou grandstanding was merely misdirection to reinforce the illusion that it was the victim not the perpetrator. According to the revelations of Snowden and a Foreign Policy website article, the US security authorities have habitually instigated cyberattacks against China in the past years.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post on June 13, Snowden made explosive claims that the US National Security Agency's controversial Prism program has for years been hacking into computers in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland in a systematic way.
Meanwhile, a Foreign Policy website article published on June 10, entitled "Inside the NSA's Ultra-Secret China Hacking Group", reports at length about the formation and function of the Office of Tailored Access Operations, under the NSA, which is the biggest spy surveillance organization in the world.
According to the article, TAO has successfully penetrated Chinese computer and telecommunications systems for almost 15 years, generating intelligence information about what is going on inside the country.
If true, both the scope and the long duration of the US hacking directed at China are beyond tolerance. Compared with the hollow US accusations against China, allegations of US hacking against China from an ex-CIA employee and a respected media outlet sound far more reliable and convincing.
Hence, the hypocrisy of Uncle Sam is self-evident: For a long time Washington has played the game of a thief crying, "Stop! Thief!".
Regrettably, there is still no sign that the US authorities are ready to learn a lesson from the on-going information collection scandal and stop wrongdoings that infringe upon the rights and privacy of other people and countries.
To continue their mud-throwing game, some in the US, former vice-president Dick Cheney most prominently have called Snowden a "traitor" and alleged that he may be a spy for China. Such a claim is clearly absurd, and it is clear that the US authorities are at their wit's end about how to deal with the chain reactions Snowden's leaks have set off.
An honest reflection on the wrongdoings and reparative measures are the right way for the US to cope with the aftereffects of the hot potato dropped by the ex-CIA analyst and a former employee working for defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton at the NSA. Any attempt to shirk these responsibilities would only further erode the credibility of the US.
The author is a senior writer with China Daily
E-mail: wanghui@chinadaily.com.cn

5 comments:

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

This is standard American tactic. They will accuse and attack anyone first and force the other party to defend. And they will keep attacking until the other party got no time to fight back but keep on defending. And the rest of the world will think the Americans are right.

This cyber attack against China shows how hypocritical and devious the Americans were.

The said...


恶 人 先 告 状

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

>> This cyber attack against China shows how hypocritical and devious the Americans were.

They are both as devious as each other lah. If you are not devious, how can you run effective national spy agencies?

Spy vs spy is an ongoing enterprise of every government. At the end of the day, nation states simply don't trust each other.

America in this instance is just adhering to the tactical doctrine of attack is the best defense.

As I said many times in the past, when it comes to cyber security, it has to come down to the individual level to protect oneself. You lock up your house because you know that it is a bad choice to leave your house unsecured and just rely on the cops to "protect" your stuff.

Also, at the individual level, be aware of "Human Hacking" also known as "Social Engineering".

denk said...


Remember Shane Todd!

"His father Rick Todd has said his son’s death may be tied to his work at Singapore’s Institute of Microelectronics and possible technology transfers to China’s Huawei Technologies Co."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-13/singapore-inquiry-into-u-s-man-s-death-by-hanging-begins.html


freedom144
Jun 19, 2013

@Leiderdorp Thanks for bringing this to light. I didn't know anything of the case until your link.


DanSssss
Jun 19, 2013

@Leiderdorp

Very sinister reference without follow-up. How about this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22620604

That dude had history of depression. And the Huawei business was just talk, no work initiated, YET. Give it a rest!

If it was what the brainwashed parents (and you) claimed, wouldn't Uncle Sam and NSA plus all their media hounds jump into the bandwagon as if there was no tomorrow?

Try to think, once in awhile.

1LikeReply

http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/huawei-ascend-p6/4505-6452_7-35792278.html

Anonymous said...

Everyone is a hypocrite. No one is saint. This world is full of bullshits.

USA seems to be a lousy spy in this case. Anyway, they are lousy in everything unless they copied europe. They should learn more from the chinese and europe and russia.