There is security (Kabuki) theater, and then there is SECURITY…
US staff and press members accompanying President Donald Trump reportedly discarded materials from given by the Chinese officials before boarding Air Force One on Friday. The report highlights the deep mistrust that continues to define the US-China ties. The American officials and White House reporters threw away various items collected during the trip, including staff burner phones, credential badges, and lapel pins issued by China. The materials were reportedly dumped into a bin placed near the aircraft stairs shortly before departure from Beijing Capital Airport, according to a journalist in the White House Pool. The move comes as Donald Trump concluded his high-profile two-day visit to Beijing after meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Full article, HERE from the Economic Times of India.
The US delegation went into the trip with tight security, no personal phones, computers, or any electronic devices. Only burner phones and selected ‘clean’ computers were allowed, and they were not connected to the Internet. Also, only secure, verified charging stations were used.
All Chinese gifts, badges, pins, and commemorative items were all dumped into a trash bin at the base of the ladder, including burner phones.
A friend who has been there on business always carries a burner phone and a ‘clean’ laptop that is locked down tighter than a…well, you get the idea. And when he comes back the phone is disposed of, and the computer wiped clean and reloaded for the next trip.
This is the difference between this administration and the last one. As if people aren’t already aware of the prosecutions of leakers under this administration…
And no, security is not perfect, and never will be as long as humans are involved, but at least they are trying…
Back in the early 2000s I worked on the AP1000 Nuclear Plant design team. Our corporate security told us about an incident that happened to our Westinghouse partner. Westinghouse was selling the AP1000 (AP stands of advanced passive) plants to China. As part of the deal, Westinghouse was providing technology transfer to China. They had a group of Chinese technical folks visiting Pittsburg and were making presentations to the Chinese team and the Chinese guys asked if it was OK to plug in usb drives to download the presentations. Two weeks later, Westinghouse got a call from the FBI asking if they knew about the large continuous stream of data being sent to China from their servers. Turned out the usb drives implanted a virus that was downloading the total content of Westinghouse’s server to China. The Chinese are now marketing the CAP1400 plant based on the AP1000.
Ah the joys of “Plug ‘n’ Pray” combined with Auto-run. Thanks Microsoft!
The machines in the room doing the presentation should have been on their own isolated and airgapped network and should have had all USB ports disconnected from the motherboards.
Never EVER let someone plug into your machines with a foreign device.
The presentations should have been written to CD-R, or have been put on company-provided USB sticks for attendees to take home.
Live ‘n’ Learn I guess.
Maybe not the stupidest thing the circle bar W management did on that project, but right up there.
Given the lack of ethics displayed by the behavior of many “journalists” I think it is a safe bet that some items made it back home and will be worth a great deal in the future. Unless they were strip searched immediately upon boarding, that is.
X2
I like that we did it in full view of the Chinese.
Most of the computer motherboards are built in China these days. Combine that with what the Intel Management Engine (IME) or AMD’s Platform Security Processor (PSP) are capable of, and …
Well let’s just say we’ve got a huge security problem already, and a nightmare of a cyber attack platform just waiting to be used in earnest by the Chinese should the day come they want to completely screw up our entire communications and ability to do things with computers. I’m sure espionage and not sabotage is the goal, for now.
Don’t trust China. China is Asshoe.
All- I think you’re all correct…dammit….
A friend transitioned from federal to private industry. First thing he did was a security audit on “the system.” Digital inventory did NOT match physical inventory. Cross referenced Digital codes with list provided by the US govt. via Homeland Sec. Tracked items down to LIGHT BULBS. “Smart” light bulbs. Made in China. Reported to CIO, CEO, and, due to obligations in Federal contracts, the FBI. Company lost Federal contracts and LOTS of money. CEO wanted friend fired. CIO resigned and insisted my friend taking his position. Haven’t heard any updates.
Thank you Demo-Rats for killing simple incandescent bulbs and forcing us to use LED bulbs. Nobody thinks that a remote-controlled color-changing light bulb has a computer in it.
Back in 2007-8 I was involved in the construction of the new US embassy in Beijing. The working assumption was that every Chinese worker employed in the construction was either an actual CCP agent or a suborned local hire. Don’t ask why(?) the US employs local hires when building new embassies around the world.
Side bar:
While sitting in my hotel room there one night, I manually turned off the TV that was across from the couch rather then shutting it off with the remote. And then sat there slightly amused as the(until then unseen)camera eye in the corner of the set slowly closed down. . .
While not a perfect response to the CCP and its never ending perfidy it’s at least a step in the right direction. China is asshoe and can NEVER be trusted.
In an ideal world, US politics would not be in a state where we could legitimately ask “why have we not nuked Beijing yet?”
US politics is in that state, after a lot of elites have been much too buddy with the CCP.