The real and present threat from China

ArmyJerry

fukallyall
Banned !
Nov 22, 2012
13,378
21,779
Kicking Ass Somewhere
This is a big frikken deal,


https://bgr.com/2018/10/04/china-hardware-backdoors-sophisticated-chips-used-in-us-bound-tech/

A bombshell report claims that China has been developing a massive spying operation for a few years that involved building hardware backdoors into critical server components with the help of microchips no bigger than a grain of rice or the tip of a sharpened pencil. Those chips, once placed on motherboards that go into popular servers, would be able to help Chinese spies access information that would otherwise be unavailable to them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: diverdon
Two more real threats from china:
Chinese birth tourism is about hatching out spies with US citizenship.
Chinese students in the US and their student groups is chinese espionage.

If we had any sense, we'd crush china economically/politically before their mil becomes a threat.
 
It's so funny to see everybody acting so shocked and running around trying to issue half denials and then the others on the reporting side trumpeting it.

Many of us have been telling everybody who wouldn't listen the same thing for years...

So many of us have been busy telling people this kind of stuff for years and everybody just laughs it off as stupid... then some pony tailed type with a power point slide says it on the news and all of the sudden OMG!!!! while we just shake our heads.

Basically somebody has or can have a tap on every electronic device & piece of software that you use which can connect to a network, it all depends on if you have data or information or stuff that the right somebody is interested in harvesting.
Where things come from / are made / designed, transit through etc, all determines which group has the access to take advantage.

Of course thanks to Facebook and social media / google / apple... you can just buy most average private person's private lives and all their thoughts and ideas for a little bit of money without having to do the hard work.
 
It's so funny to see everybody acting so shocked and running around trying to issue half denials and then the others on the reporting side trumpeting it.

Many of us have been telling everybody who wouldn't listen the same thing for years...

So many of us have been busy telling people this kind of stuff for years and everybody just laughs it off as stupid... then some pony tailed type with a power point slide says it on the news and all of the sudden OMG!!!! while we just shake our heads.

Basically somebody has or can have a tap on every electronic device & piece of software that you use which can connect to a network, it all depends on if you have data or information or stuff that the right somebody is interested in harvesting.
Where things come from / are made / designed, transit through etc, all determines which group has the access to take advantage.

Of course thanks to Facebook and social media / google / apple... you can just buy most average private person's private lives and all their thoughts and ideas for a little bit of money without having to do the hard work.

Preach it brother!! There is not a single piece of networked electronics that cannot be hacked or monitored.
 
AND... the DOD is moving their data to a secure Amazon cloud. They might as well just email the network credentials to the chicoms. Like a previous member posted, there are a lot of us who have been trying to warn everyone, but we were looked at as the ones with the tin foil hats.
 
It's so funny to see everybody acting so shocked and running around trying to issue half denials and then the others on the reporting side trumpeting it.

Many of us have been telling everybody who wouldn't listen the same thing for years...

So many of us have been busy telling people this kind of stuff for years and everybody just laughs it off as stupid... then some pony tailed type with a power point slide says it on the news and all of the sudden OMG!!!! while we just shake our heads.

Basically somebody has or can have a tap on every electronic device & piece of software that you use which can connect to a network, it all depends on if you have data or information or stuff that the right somebody is interested in harvesting.
Where things come from / are made / designed, transit through etc, all determines which group has the access to take advantage.

Of course thanks to Facebook and social media / google / apple... you can just buy most average private person's private lives and all their thoughts and ideas for a little bit of money without having to do the hard work.


Anyone that thinks they have privacy AND an electronic footprint is delusional.

Im in 50 so for probably the last ten years Ive created my profile. Posting this now is adding to that profile and Im sure its being "graded".

The age of lying is dying and its not going to be a good thing.

Kavanaugh they had to go back to a yearbook. Probably actually had to have someone find an actual hard copy. My kids lives are digitized for immediate recall since day one. They are fucked.

If we dont get our shit together Minority Report will be reality.

I picture some college admissions bureaucrat looking at a kids academic record and dismissing it instead choosing to spin up the real data bank to determine "Is this kid a 'right thinker' are they on board with the current political agenda based on their electronic persona?"

Chinas doing it now. Google is helping them. My kids school work a bulk of it goes through Google, Shit if I want to sign up for extra work now I have to go through a Gmail account.

You dont think Google doesnt get value in knowing I worked an overtime. Maybe they will target me for more marketing next week?

Everything is going to smart phones. I remain kind of behind the times....

P7316950_zpsgsjmt64g.jpg


Its now starting to get to the point you must have the pocket held full function tracking device in order to function in the world.

Everyone was pissed that Obamacare was mandated but basically its coming that you wont be able to function in the world without a full access smart phone. They are great tools and that instant access to information removes all reason for people to say "I dont know" but its ripe for abuse.

Scary thing is I dont think someone bastardized a good thing and abused it. I think the abuse was intended and the good is used to entice you to it.

Patriot Act was sold as a good thing but really its whole intent has been a means to abuse.
 
Preach it brother!! There is not a single piece of networked electronics that cannot be hacked or monitored.

My kids a Type I diabetic on a pump.

What slows down the introduction of new therapy technology is ensuring its hardened against hacking.

And as her parent while I appreciate that precaution it also kind of sucks because

A. It slows down access to better care
B. the realization that there are assholes in the world that make it necessary.
 
May I suggest you guys that are interested in this, read the book (or listen to the audio book) "Ghost Fleet". Think Tom Clancy, Red Storm Rising. The book has a so-so story line, but the technical details (like RSR) raised a lot of eyebrows in a lot of secure spaces and offices. Look at the date it was published. Just saying...this is not a surprise. At. All.

I tell/brief users and customers all the time, that the US public will know we are at war with China when everything suddenly stops working. Cell Phones. Computers. Power grids. GPS.

The next major war will be won or lost in the first 6 hrs. Everything else will just be a formality of cleaning up the mess.
 
Last edited:
May I suggest you guys that are interested in this, read the book (or listen to the audio book) "Ghost Fleet". Think Tom Clancy, Red Storm Rising. The book has a so-so story line, but the technical details (like RSR) raised a lot of eyebrows in a lot of secure spaces and offices. Look at the date it was published. Just saying...this is not a surprise. At. All.
I tell/brief users and customers all the time, that the US public will know we are at war with China when everything suddenly stops working. Cell Phones. Computers. Power grids. GPS.
The next major war will be won or lost in the first 6 hrs. Everything else will just be a formality of cleaning up the mess.

That might also be possibly why some of our missile silos still run incredibly ancient and obsolete software and systems. Perhaps somebody was actually being intelligent when they didn't want to budget for "upgraded" systems and said we should just keep making do with the older stuff.
Better to have an ancient system that can put big warheads near enough the target, than super precision stuff that will get shut down.

I feel sorry for any western sailors working on ships being run by "windows for warships" when the war with China kicks off...

I have to believe however that there are at least some highly intelligent people in the mid ranks in the military that might know and understand this stuff & have a plan to defend their homeland. The top brass are probably idiots mostly..
 
I said that originally but was scoffed at.

Im guessing @308pirate could offer some insight into the possibilities and if possible it still doesnt dismiss the watch that let it happen.

Training and discipline does not escape accountability.

.....or it was so bad that everyone just wanted it to go away.

As bad as it was if there was more that would shake all confidence.
 
.....or it was so bad that everyone just wanted it to go away.
As bad as it was if there was more that would shake all confidence.

There have been a lot of unconfirmed reports of little "tests" the Russians and the Chinese have run against some of our ships & other installations, where a Russian or Chinese ship or plane came near and things for a bit went very wrong for the high tech gear that can receive frequency stimulus (even if not direct communications gear).

Nobody ever seems to want to confirm or deny anything on either side, pretty much just silence.

I think it would be a fair bet to say there is a constant cat and mouse game on all sides of make stuff, figure out how to make it go nuts.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Greg Langelius *
There have been a lot of unconfirmed reports of little "tests" the Russians and the Chinese have run against some of our ships & other installations, where a Russian or Chinese ship or plane came near and things for a bit went very wrong for the high tech gear that can receive frequency stimulus (even if not direct communications gear).

Nobody ever seems to want to confirm or deny anything on either side, pretty much just silence.

I think it would be a fair bet to say there is a constant cat and mouse game on all sides of make stuff, figure out how to make it go nuts.
Your right and it makes me want to go buy more ammo.
 
There have been a lot of unconfirmed reports of little "tests" the Russians and the Chinese have run against some of our ships & other installations, where a Russian or Chinese ship or plane came near and things for a bit went very wrong for the high tech gear that can receive frequency stimulus (even if not direct communications gear)..
Such "reports" are easily believable by those who don't really know how ship control systems work and what kind of backups exist for them. That would be the majority of the population and about 100% of the tinfoil hat bloggers repeating them.
 
Such "reports" are easily believable by those who don't really know how ship control systems work and what kind of backups exist for them. That would be the majority of the population and about 100% of the tinfoil hat bloggers repeating them.

Quite possibly, nobody has any publicly available real information, however it is of note that it seems that we have some working systems that can do similar things at will to people we are not happy with.
 
Such "reports" are easily believable by those who don't really know how ship control systems work and what kind of backups exist for them. That would be the majority of the population and about 100% of the tinfoil hat bloggers repeating them.

You don't really need to screw to much with the entire ship.

All you need is to make one piece of information on a radar or avoidance system disappear.

Than hope you have an overworked, inexperienced crew that wont pick up on it.
 
Last edited:
It is a constant cat & mouse game out there. A ship's combat systems is completely segregated from all other networks.

And other than that, I won't say much else. This discussion is heading into some very sensitive areas that shouldn't be a public discussion.
 
I would not buy ammo from the enemy. Why would the Gov buy electronics from them? Because we have been sold out buy our Govt. Foxconn is coming here and are many others. Trump is bringing them home. This is likely a key reason for the big push to bring Electronic industries back home.

It is a constant cat & mouse game out there. A ship's combat systems is completely segregated from all other networks.

And other than that, I won't say much else. This discussion is heading into some very sensitive areas that shouldn't be a public discussion.
Loose lips, sink ships.
 
I'll just link to this official government report which basically states that there is a possibility for an issue and a lot more work needs to be done to verify there is no possibility for an issue.

https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/694913.pdf

I wish they had just asked me.....

"Hey guy, Should we buy electronics from other nations to use in our weapons systems?"

I would have said "Are you fucking stupid"

better yet ask my 10 year old daughter she would have said the same thing without the profanity.
 
I wish they had just asked me.....
"Hey guy, Should we buy electronics from other nations to use in our weapons systems?"
I would have said "Are you fucking stupid"
better yet ask my 10 year old daughter she would have said the same thing without the profanity.

But if you don't spend a large amount of money to do a big formal report then everybody will just say you are paranoid.
Plus if you can get a large budget to write a report on what might be bloody obviously a good possibility, why not enjoy the funding?
 
But if you don't spend a large amount of money to do a big formal report then everybody will just say you are paranoid.
Plus if you can get a large budget to write a report on what might be bloody obviously a good possibility, why not enjoy the funding?

If you thought the report was expensive wait until you get the bill for the remedy....

They will probably conclude they need to buy replacement electronics from China......but this time we will monitor them....like double secret probation.

Cant wait until China reveals it has invluded electronics to drop an F35 like a stone at the push of a garage door opener button.
 
So...allowing your spy computers and warships to run on hardware made by your enemy is a bad idea? Who knew?

The most disturbing part of this is the level of sheer derp involved in the highest echelons of government.
 
Guys, it looks like the SuperMirco thing was (at best) a badly reported story (not corroborated), and at worst a hoax story fed by a competitor. Remember, Bloomberg reporters are paid on commission by how much their story affects stock prices (as I understand it). And SuperMicro's dropped 50% for the next few days after the story broke.

The falsehood is substantiated by the fact that not a single SuperMicro system has been found yet to have any of the alleged malicious "call home" features embedded.

I smell a rat...
 
As I understand it, there are "approved" foreign vendors, who go through rigorous initial, and random testing for anything on the boards.

This is yet another reason Trump is pushing for manufacturing being brought back to the US. Kind of like the whole optics issues during WW1, he understands that we need a indigenous source for these type of systems/products.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mooncake
As I understand it, there are "approved" foreign vendors, who go through rigorous initial, and random testing for anything on the boards.

This is yet another reason Trump is pushing for manufacturing being brought back to the US. Kind of like the whole optics issues during WW1, he understands that we need a indigenous source for these type of systems/products.

Its the only way.

Much more opportunity for something bad to happen overseas - say bribing an inspector is much harder than bribing an entire assembly line in CONUS.

Not even building in country is guaranteed considering optics in WWI, the USMC and A.O. Niedner, but for people wanting to hurt us it is a lot more risky.