Why are Americans particularly concerned about Chinese espionage? (lemmy.today)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by Allero@lemmy.today to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Whenever I see threads and comments about privacy-related or sensitive topics, I often see concerns about China in particular stealing all that data.

Why is China, a country across a vast ocean, is seen as a bigger threat in that regard than US itself? Unlike Chinese, the local government does have power over its residents and can actually use this information against you (and it does have a record for doing exactly that). The only places where Chinese espionage would be a concern (military, high-tech industry) lay way beyond what an everyday American faces regularly.

So, is it a new red scare, or is there a substance behind it that I fail to see?

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[-] geekwithsoul@lemm.ee 12 points 2 months ago

It’s more the fact they were running a mole in the CIA. If you want an example of more direct action, how does this one work for you (from just this week):

https://www.theregister.com/AMP/2024/09/25/chinas_salt_typhoon_cyber_spies/

In a related security advisory, government agencies accused the Flax Typhoon crew of amassing a SQL database containing details of 1.2 million records on compromised and hijacked devices that they had either previously used or were currently using for the botnet

Back in February, the US government confirmed that this same Chinese crew comprised"multiple" US critical infrastructure orgs' IT networks in America in preparation for "disruptive or destructive cyberattacks" against those targets.

this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024

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