Economic Security

Cyber-attacks on the Rise Warns Bank of America Chief Technology Officer

Posted on by China Tech Threat
This week, Cathy Bessant, Chief Operations and Technology Officer at Bank of America gave a stark warning about cyberattacks on U.S. financial institutions saying, “there’s no question that the rate and pace of attacks, and the nature of attacks, has grown dramatically.” “Criminals are by definition very crafty, very entrepreneurial – and times of stress produce opportunities,” Bessant told journalists during a virtual briefing Monday. The company’s centralized global information-security unit has boosted spending in recent years to about US$1bil. Further, about 64% of finance executives expect cybersecurity budgets to keep rising, a separate Deloitte survey showed. Earlier this year, China Tech Threat published a report showing that cyber-attacks against financial organizations are growing in frequency and severity and U.S.… Read More

Roslyn Layton Tells Voices of America The Importance of Securing the Semiconductor Industry in Both the Long and Short Term

Posted on by China Tech Threat
During President Biden hosted a virtual meeting with leaders of some of the country’s biggest companies impacted by a global shortage of semiconductors, on April 12, he noted that the U.S must find a way to “strengthen our domestic semiconductor industry and secure the American supply chain.”  This meeting and the President’s urgency on this matter is commendable. However, in an article published by Voice of America White House Bureau Cheif Steve Herman, Roslyn Layton made it clear that the short-term issue of a shortage of semiconductors for the automotive industry should not be confused with the larger, existential problem that the United States does not produce enough of its own chips. Dr. Layton went on to say that there… Read More

Exclusive Interview: Potential Commerce Under Secretary Nominee Analyzes Vital Bureau

Posted on by China Tech Threat
China has a clear mission to achieve global military supremacy and is prepared to build, buy, siphon, or steal the latest and greatest tech to get there. When we’re dealing with China, it’s not business as usual, and we need to be vigilant to make sure sensitive technologies in particular are directed to their intended uses and don’t fall into rogue military hands. As the U.S. looks at policy levers to protect our leadership and interests, a little known bureau within the Department of Commerce called the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is on the front lines for strategic trade control. In recent weeks, the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times have speculated about who will lead the 450-person… Read More

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