A Gift From The Current Prez to the Next Prez

Ignoring posturing from the incoming President about the current President making life hard for him (countermanded by his chief of staff to be), the administration has revealed a lot about Chinese hacking over the last decade.

#1 – China has hacked the US GOVERNMENT at least a dozen times since 2014.

According to Metacurity’s research, the attack on the US Treasury by a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor is just the latest in a string of thirty significant breaches of federal government organizations or adjacent systems that stretches back to 1996 when the Russian hacking group Turla launched a massive info-stealing operation on US military targets in an operation known as Moonlight Maze.

#2 – Senior US Treasury Leaders were Hacked by China

The computers of US Treasury executives and member of the Office of Foreign Asset Control were hacked by China, giving them valuable intelligence on the plans for sanctions and insight into what we know and don’t know.

#3 – FCC Moves Against Two Chinese Telecoms Operating in US over Security Concerns

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Wednesday it has begun efforts to revoke authorization for China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks and its wholly-owned subsidiary ComNet to provide U.S. telecommunications services.

#4 – US Considering Banning Chinese Drones

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is considering a new rule to restrict or ban Chinese drones in the United States due to national security concerns. This includes drone giant DJI, who accounts for more than 75 percent of the US drone market.

These activities, started by the current administration, are a powerful negotiating lever that the incoming administration can wield against China to gain concessions.

Hopefully, the great negotiator can gain some useful concessions out of China – stay tuned to see.

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