Economic Security

5G Security Challenges Webinar: “Lenovo is more Chinese than Huawei”

Posted on by China Tech Threat
Last week, the Parliamentary Intelligence-Security forum (PI-SF) held a webinar titled “5G Security Challenges.” The second in the 5G security series, Congressman Robert Pittenger hosted a lively conversation featuring U.S. political leaders and European lawmakers to discuss the growing threat from China’s 5G ambitions. One major takeaway from the event was that we must be aware of the dangers of Chinese technolgy, not just from Huawei, but from companies such as Lenovo, GE and Motorola. As one panelist put it, “The Chinese Communist Party is hiding behind its vendors.” The webinar featured former Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI), Hon. Jason Boswell, Head of Security for the Network and Product Solutions Department at Ericsson, and Hon. Sohan Dasguspta, Deputy Counsel for the… Read More

Cyber-Attacks on U.S. Banks Are Immense—and Growing

Posted on by China Tech Threat
The U.S. financial services industry is one of the most targeted sectors by cyber-attackers and those attacks are escalating quickly in number and sophistication. In 2015, a report by Websense Security Labs found that banks and other financial institutions were targeted by cyber-attacks four times more often than companies in other industries. In 2019, the financial services firms experienced 300 times more attacks than their counterparts in other sectors, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. “America is grappling with a cyber insurgency and our financial sector is the number one target,” Tom Kellermann, who served on a cybersecurity commission ordered by President Obama, testified before Congress last June. “Although the sector is generally more… Read More

Lincoln Network Event: US to experience severe industrial loss without US Semiconductor Policy

Posted on by China Tech Threat
On January 22, the Lincoln Network hosted a panel titled “The Future of U.S. Semiconductor Policy: Answering the China Chip Challenge.” Panelists included China Tech Threat Co-Founder Dr. Roslyn Layton, Stephen Ezell, Vice-President, Global Innovation Policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), Dr. James Mulvenon, Director of Intelligence Integration at SOSi and Dan Lips, Director of Cyber and National Security at Lincoln Network. In the most critical part of the conversation, host Alexiaa Jordan commended Dr. Layton for clearly stating the steps the US can take in order to secure their policy, as well as naming the companies that this policy must address. In a follow up to this, Dr. Mulvenon noted that when US export control policy… Read More

Chinese ‘Advanced Persistent Threats’ Have U.S. Companies and Consumers in Their Crosshairs

Posted on by China Tech Threat
The People’s Republic of China is ramping up cyber-attacks against the United States—and not just against government agencies, but U.S. businesses and consumers as well. “For too long, U.S. networks and data have been exposed to cyber threats based in China which are using that data to give Chinese firms an unfair competitive advantage in the global marketplace,” acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said in an advisory to U.S. businesses last month. The advisory notes that China’s Data Security Law of 2020 “represents an even greater shift in the [Chinese Communist Party’s] attitude away from protecting Chinese data systems as a defensive mechanism, and toward collecting data as an offensive act.” A 2017 intelligence law requires Chinese companies… Read More

Listen: Dr. Roslyn Layton and Dr. Jim Lewis on CSIS’ ChinaPower Podcast

Posted on by China Tech Threat
Ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, China Tech Threat founder Roslyn Layton joined Bonnie Glaser and Jim Lewis on the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) ChinaPower podcast. Ms. Glaser is the senior advisor for Asia at CSIS and host of the ChinaPower podcast. Dr. Lewis is senior vice president and director of the Strategic Technologies Program at CSIS. China’s ambitions to dominate the global tech markets, coupled with its Military-Civil Fusion strategy, present a unique challenge to U.S. policymakers. Chief among those, notes Ms. Glaser, is striking the right balance between protecting dual-use technologies and fostering continued demand for American-made products, which will help continue to drive innovation. Despite controls on semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME), U.S.-born products… Read More

Hudson Institute: The Importance of the Defense Industrial Base

Posted on by China Tech Threat
On January 14, The Hudson Institute hosted a virtual discussion entitled “A Discussion on the Defense Industrial Base with Government Leaders.” The panel featured leaders from the Defense Department including Ellen Lord, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and Robert Work, Former Deputy Secretary of Defense. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow & Director, Center for Defense Concepts and Technology at Hudson Institute, also joined the conversation that was moderated by Jeb Nadaner, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment at the U.S. Department of Defense. From the outset, the theme of the conversation centered on the need to address threats to our defense… Read More

As YMTC Booms, China Aims to Dominate Flash Memory Industry

Posted on by China Tech Threat
Despite China’s struggles other the years to seed its domestic semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME) industry, the rise of Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) threatens to unseat non-PRC firms. That state-sponsored growth could position the People’s Republic of China to unseat the United States as a leader in next-generation flash memory, or so-called 3-D NAND memory, Dr. Roslyn Latyon writes in Forbes today. “YMTC is focused on 128-layer and 196-layer chips, leapfrogging over earlier generations,” a new report by James Mulvenon, head of SOS International. Estimates indicate the company could capture seven to 15 percent of global 128-layer product production by 2024. Like SMIC, YMTC has ties to the People’s Liberation Army; it is partially owned by the Tsinghua Unigroup, which… Read More

Trump Administration Publishes List of Chinese and Russian Companies with Military Ties

Posted on by China Tech Threat
The U.S. Department of Commerce published a list of Chinese and Russian companies with military ties on Monday. U.S. companies will be restricted from selling certain goods and technology to those named. The final list includes 103 entities, 14 fewer than on a draft obtained by Reuters in November. Fifty-eight are Chinese companies, 31 fewer than before. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the list will “assist exporters in screening their customers for military end users.” Only days before, the Department of Commerce added more than 60 Chinese companies to the Entity List, including China’s largest semiconductor maker, SMIC. “China’s corrupt and bullying behavior both inside and outside its borders harms U.S. national security interests,” Secretary Ross said in a statement… Read More

S&P Dow Jones to Remove 21 Blacklisted Companies

Posted on by China Tech Threat
The S&P Dow Jones Indices will remove 21 Chinese companies with ties to the People’s Liberation Army from its global stock and bond benchmarks, Reuters reported on Thursday. Last month President Trump issued an executive order preventing U.S. investors from owning or selling shares of Chinese companies with ties to the country’s government and military. “Through the national strategy of Military-Civil Fusion, the PRC [People’s Republic of China] increases the size of the country’s military-industrial complex by compelling civilian Chinese companies to support its military and intelligence activities,” the executive order states. “Those companies raise capital by selling securities to United States investors that trade on public exchanges both here and abroad… In that way, the PRC exploits United States… Read More

Report to Congress: U.S. Must Do More to Counter China

Posted on by China Tech Threat
This week the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) presented its Annual Report to Congress. The 575-page analysis is frank in its assessment of China’s growing threat to U.S. economic and national security interests. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is moving from “catching up” to “surpassing” the United States on economic, diplomatic and military fronts, vice chair Carolyn Bartholomew said in prepared testimony. “China’s leaders have grown increasingly aggressive and antagonistic.” Robin Cleveland, chair of the Commission, expressed similar alarm in her opening statement. “China is an adversary presenting unique and immediate threats to our economic and security interests… [T]he challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party are not partisan—they are American concerns.” Among its key policy recommendations, the… Read More