Thread: US warning allies to ditch Huawei, Chinese "spying" equipment

Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages:

• Secret files show scale of Silicon Valley co-operation on Prism
• Outlook.com encryption unlocked even before official launch
• Skype worked to enable Prism collection of video calls
• Company says it is legally compelled to comply


Skype worked with intelligence agencies last year to allow Prism to collect video and audio conversations. Photograph: Patrick Sinkel/AP

Microsoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users' communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company's own encryption, according to top-secret documents obtained by the Guardian.

The files provided by Edward Snowden illustrate the scale of co-operation between Silicon Valley and the intelligence agencies over the last three years. They also shed new light on the workings of the top-secret Prism program, which was disclosed by the Guardian and the Washington Post last month.

The documents show that:

• Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;

• The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;

• The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide;

• Microsoft also worked with the FBI's Data Intercept Unit to "understand" potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases;

• In July last year, nine months after Microsoft bought Skype, the NSA boasted that a new capability had tripled the amount of Skype video calls being collected through Prism;

• Material collected through Prism is routinely shared with the FBI and CIA, with one NSA document describing the program as a "team sport".

The latest NSA revelations further expose the tensions between Silicon Valley and the Obama administration. All the major tech firms are lobbying the government to allow them to disclose more fully the extent and nature of their co-operation with the NSA to meet their customers' privacy concerns. Privately, tech executives are at pains to distance themselves from claims of collaboration and teamwork given by the NSA documents, and insist the process is driven by legal compulsion.

In a statement, Microsoft said: "When we upgrade or update products we aren't absolved from the need to comply with existing or future lawful demands." The company reiterated its argument that it provides customer data "only in response to government demands and we only ever comply with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers".

In June, the Guardian revealed that the NSA claimed to have "direct access" through the Prism program to the systems of many major internet companies, including Microsoft, Skype, Apple, Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

Blanket orders from the secret surveillance court allow these communications to be collected without an individual warrant if the NSA operative has a 51% belief that the target is not a US citizen and is not on US soil at the time. Targeting US citizens does require an individual warrant, but the NSA is able to collect Americans' communications without a warrant if the target is a foreign national located overseas.

Since Prism's existence became public, Microsoft and the other companies listed on the NSA documents as providers have denied all knowledge of the program and insisted that the intelligence agencies do not have back doors into their systems.

Microsoft's latest marketing campaign, launched in April, emphasizes its commitment to privacy with the slogan: "Your privacy is our priority."

Similarly, Skype's privacy policy states: "Skype is committed to respecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal data, traffic data and communications content."

But internal NSA newsletters, marked top secret, suggest the co-operation between the intelligence community and the companies is deep and ongoing.

The latest documents come from the NSA's Special Source Operations (SSO) division, described by Snowden as the "crown jewel" of the agency. It is responsible for all programs aimed at US communications systems through corporate partnerships such as Prism.

The files show that the NSA became concerned about the interception of encrypted chats on Microsoft's Outlook.com portal from the moment the company began testing the service in July last year.

Within five months, the documents explain, Microsoft and the FBI had come up with a solution that allowed the NSA to circumvent encryption on Outlook.com chats

A newsletter entry dated 26 December 2012 states: "MS [Microsoft], working with the FBI, developed a surveillance capability to deal" with the issue. "These solutions were successfully tested and went live 12 Dec 2012."

Two months later, in February this year, Microsoft officially launched the Outlook.com portal.

Another newsletter entry stated that NSA already had pre-encryption access to Outlook email. "For Prism collection against Hotmail, Live, and Outlook.com emails will be unaffected because Prism collects this data prior to encryption."

Microsoft's co-operation was not limited to Outlook.com. An entry dated 8 April 2013 describes how the company worked "for many months" with the FBI – which acts as the liaison between the intelligence agencies and Silicon Valley on Prism – to allow Prism access without separate authorization to its cloud storage service SkyDrive.

The document describes how this access "means that analysts will no longer have to make a special request to SSO for this – a process step that many analysts may not have known about".

The NSA explained that "this new capability will result in a much more complete and timely collection response". It continued: "This success is the result of the FBI working for many months with Microsoft to get this tasking and collection solution established."

A separate entry identified another area for collaboration. "The FBI Data Intercept Technology Unit (DITU) team is working with Microsoft to understand an additional feature in Outlook.com which allows users to create email aliases, which may affect our tasking processes."

The NSA has devoted substantial efforts in the last two years to work with Microsoft to ensure increased access to Skype, which has an estimated 663 million global users.

One document boasts that Prism monitoring of Skype video production has roughly tripled since a new capability was added on 14 July 2012. "The audio portions of these sessions have been processed correctly all along, but without the accompanying video. Now, analysts will have the complete 'picture'," it says.

Eight months before being bought by Microsoft, Skype joined the Prism program in February 2011.

According to the NSA documents, work had begun on smoothly integrating Skype into Prism in November 2010, but it was not until 4 February 2011 that the company was served with a directive to comply signed by the attorney general.

The NSA was able to start tasking Skype communications the following day, and collection began on 6 February. "Feedback indicated that a collected Skype call was very clear and the metadata looked complete," the document stated, praising the co-operation between NSA teams and the FBI. "Collaborative teamwork was the key to the successful addition of another provider to the Prism system."

ACLU technology expert Chris Soghoian said the revelations would surprise many Skype users. "In the past, Skype made affirmative promises to users about their inability to perform wiretaps," he said. "It's hard to square Microsoft's secret collaboration with the NSA with its high-profile efforts to compete on privacy with Google."

The information the NSA collects from Prism is routinely shared with both the FBI and CIA. A 3 August 2012 newsletter describes how the NSA has recently expanded sharing with the other two agencies.

The NSA, the entry reveals, has even automated the sharing of aspects of Prism, using software that "enables our partners to see which selectors [search terms] the National Security Agency has tasked to Prism".

The document continues: "The FBI and CIA then can request a copy of Prism collection of any selector…" As a result, the author notes: "these two activities underscore the point that Prism is a team sport!"

In its statement to the Guardian, Microsoft said:

We have clear principles which guide the response across our entire company to government demands for customer information for both law enforcement and national security issues. First, we take our commitments to our customers and to compliance with applicable law very seriously, so we provide customer data only in response to legal processes.

Second, our compliance team examines all demands very closely, and we reject them if we believe they aren't valid. Third, we only ever comply with orders about specific accounts or identifiers, and we would not respond to the kind of blanket orders discussed in the press over the past few weeks, as the volumes documented in our most recent disclosure clearly illustrate.

Finally when we upgrade or update products legal obligations may in some circumstances require that we maintain the ability to provide information in response to a law enforcement or national security request. There are aspects of this debate that we wish we were able to discuss more freely. That's why we've argued for additional transparency that would help everyone understand and debate these important issues.

In a joint statement, Shawn Turner, spokesman for the director of National Intelligence, and Judith Emmel, spokeswoman for the NSA, said:

The articles describe court-ordered surveillance – and a US company's efforts to comply with these legally mandated requirements. The US operates its programs under a strict oversight regime, with careful monitoring by the courts, Congress and the Director of National Intelligence. Not all countries have equivalent oversight requirements to protect civil liberties and privacy.

They added: "In practice, US companies put energy, focus and commitment into consistently protecting the privacy of their customers around the world, while meeting their obligations under the laws of the US and other countries in which they operate."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...tion-user-data

......

^

In a joint statement, Shawn Turner, spokesman for the director of National Intelligence, and Judith Emmel, spokeswoman for the NSA, said:The articles describe court-ordered surveillance – and a US company's efforts to comply with these legally mandated requirements.

^Yes, that's right folks, straight from the horses mouth: ...US companies are legally obliged to spy on their customers on behalf of the NSA.

What's all that got to do with the subject of this thread, Huawei?

Originally Posted by foobar

^


^Yes, that's right folks, straight from the horses mouth: ...US companies are legally obliged to spy on their customers on behalf of the NSA.

So you accept that Huawei are obliged to spy on their customers for the Chinese government.

Originally Posted by Cujo

So you accept that Huawei are obliged to spy on their customers for the Chinese government.

Strawman....yawn!

Originally Posted by Cujo

What's all that got to do with the subject of this thread, Huawei?

The thread is about technology manufacturers being coerced into spying on their customers on behalf of the government.


Let me know if you need any further help using the internet....

Originally Posted by foobar

The thread is about technology manufacturers being coerced into spying on their customers on behalf of the government.


Let me know if you need any further help using the internet....

Please check the thread topic. It's quite clear and quite specific.
Let me know if you need help with your learning disorders.

Originally Posted by Cujo

Please check the thread topic. It's quite clear and quite specific.

What are the first two words of the thread topic title?

If the topic title was "Ted Bundy warns women about serial killers", are we only allowed to discuss the danger serial killers pose to women or what women might do to protect themselves etc ....would it really be off topic to point out the warning is coming from none other than Ted Bundy? Or should we just rush blindly in a panic, possibly foaming at the mouth, to adopt Ted's advice?

Originally Posted by Cujo

What's all that got to do with the subject of this thread, Huawei?

The feeble-minded idiot is trying to compare this with the chinkies making it *mandatory* for companies to spy for the Chinese government, even though his own article spells out the difference:

The articles describe court-ordered surveillance – and a US company's efforts to comply with these legally mandated requirements. The US operates its programs under a strict oversight regime, with careful monitoring by the courts, Congress and the Director of National Intelligence.

This because he's desperately struggling to try and compare a Western democracy with an authoritarian oligarchy that has just decided its police can go spying on any company, any time, without any oversight whatsoever.

He really is a dim fucker.

Originally Posted by Cujo

So they expect any company operating in China to make their entire international operation open to inspection by the Chinese government.
They really are pushing the boundaries.
Anyone who's spent time in China will know what control freaks they are .

No they are being subtle about it. They're basically saying they are legally allowed to hack foreign companies and steal whatever they like under the guise of "penetration testing".

Fucking arseholes.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

This because he's desperately struggling to try and compare a Western democracy with one that has just decided its police can go spying on any company, any time, without any oversight whatsoever.

PRISM is a code name for a program under which the United States National Security Agency (NSA) collects internet communications from various U.S. internet companies. The program is also known by the SIGAD US-984XN. PRISM collects stored internet communications based on demands made to internet companies such as Google LLC under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to turn over any data that match court-approved search terms. The NSA can use these PRISM requests to target communications that were encrypted when they traveled across the internet backbone, to focus on stored data that telecommunication filtering systems discarded earlier, and to get data that is easier to handle, among other things.

PRISM began in 2007 in the wake of the passage of the Protect America Act under the Bush Administration. The program is operated under the supervision of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court, or FISC) pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Its existence was leaked six years later by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who warned that the extent of mass data collection was far greater than the public knew and included what he characterized as "dangerous" and "criminal" activities. The disclosures were published by The Guardian and The Washington Post on June 6, 2013. Subsequent documents have demonstrated a financial arrangement between the NSA's Special Source Operations division (SSO) and PRISM partners in the millions of dollars.

Documents indicate that PRISM is "the number one source of raw intelligence used for NSA analytic reports", and it accounts for 91% of the NSA's internet traffic acquired under FISA section 702 authority." The leaked information came to light one day after the revelation that the FISA Court had been ordering a subsidiary of telecommunications company Verizon Communications to turn over to the NSA logs tracking all of its customers' telephone calls.

U.S. government officials have disputed some aspects of the Guardian and Washington Post stories and have defended the program by asserting it cannot be used on domestic targets without a warrant, that it has helped to prevent acts of terrorism, and that it receives independent oversight from the federal government's executive, judicial and legislative branches. On June 19, 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama, during a visit to Germany, stated that the NSA's data gathering practices constitute "a circumscribed, narrow system directed at us being able to protect our people."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_...lance_program)

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

This because he's desperately struggling to try and compare a Western democracy.... [/B]

Don't ask Lord Haw Haw why ex-NSA employee Edward Snowden is being forced to live out the rest of his days in Russia for simply blowing the whistle on the criminal behaviour of said western democracy or even ask him why a journalist has been hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for 7 years because this great bastion of western democracy wants to extradite him for prosecution simply because he reported war crimes, namely the mass murder of civilians in Iraq....

Which bit of "court-approved" are struggling with, fucknuts.

You keep posting it but you sure as shit ain't getting it.

And now you go off waffling about Ed Snowden when you haven't actually got a fucking clue what he did and why it was illegal.

As for the blonde rapist, he worked with the Russians to leak hacked data, so he's nothing more than a common fucking criminal as well.

You really are a dopey fucker.

Foobar's really earning his 5 mao a post on this thread.

Originally Posted by Cujo

What's all that got to do with the subject of this thread, Huawei?

The subject of the thread is one declining country illegally deciding to arm twist it's vassals from purchasing fit for purchase and world class goods. Primarily a government is trying stop a foreign competitor and is intruding on free trade, as defined by internationally agreed organisations and ratified treaties.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

This because he's desperately struggling to try and compare a Western democracy with an authoritarian oligarchy that has just decided its police can go spying on any company, any time, without any oversight whatsoever.

The country has laws,Those that wish to do business in and with the country had best abide by those laws.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

They're basically saying they are legally allowed to hack foreign companies

They could always just pull up sticks and forgo the opportunities which persuaded them to enter the country and do business there.

Originally Posted by foobar

The program is operated under the supervision of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court, or FISC) pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Which appears to be a countries law, which is applicable to all, within the particular country. Or wish to conduct business with the country. Unless of course some believe themselves to be above the law.

Originally Posted by OhOh

One wonders what these companies have to hide? Are they all doing evil things on their networks in China? Or do they see themselves as "exceptional" and hence above Chinese laws?

One doesn't wonder anything of the kind unless one is a stupid, snivelling, chinastan sycophant.

They're not doing anything wrong, it's just the chinkies trying to steal their trade secrets - AGAIN.

Originally Posted by OhOh

The subject of the thread is one declining country illegally deciding to arm twist it's vassals from purchasing fit for purchase and world class goods. Primarily a government is trying stop a foreign competitor and is intruding on free trade, as defined by internationally agreed organisations and ratified treaties.

No, a government is trying to stop the chinkies stealing all their trade secrets - AGAIN.

^One presumes any Chinese company, who has been found guilty in a court of law of stealing, has paid the price. Unless an agreement between the two parties could has been agreed to suit both parties.

As often happens in these types of cases.

However Huawei has not, currently, been found guilty of stealing anything or allowing any security issues to be built into their equipment. Unlike many western companies similar equipment.

Huawei seeks fair deal in US markets

"Firm says Washington has launched a 'tactical geopolitical campaign'.

Huawei Technologies C
o Ltd has refuted US attempts to discourage its allies from using the products of the world's largest telecom equipment maker, accusing Washington of using government machinery against a private company.

Xu Zhijun, one of Huawei's three rotating chairmen, said in a media briefing in Shenzhen that the United States is launching a "coordinated, tactical geopolitical campaign" against the Chinese company.

Xu said on Wednesday that the current discussions on 5G are over political issues and questioned whether the US is truly thinking about protecting the privacy of other countries' citizens, or whether it has other motives.

"Some say that because these countries are using Huawei equipment, it makes it harder for US agencies to obtain these countries' data," Xu added.


His comments came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cautioned Hungary, Slovakia and Poland against using Huawei equipment during a trip this week, saying it would make it more difficult for the US to "partner alongside them".


Xu said Huawei would spend more than $2 billion over the next five years to boost cyber security, including rewriting some codes, as an extra step to deepen the trust with foreign telecom carriers.
Experts said no factual evidence has been found to support the security allegations against Huawei, meaning that it makes no sense to exert blanket bans on the Chinese tech major.


Robert Hannigan, former head of the Government Communications Headquarters, one of the United Kingdom's intelligence arms, said in an opinion article in the Financial Times, that the West should put an end to "hysteria" over Chinese technology.


The key point here is that "the NCSC has never found evidence of malicious Chinese state cyber activity through Huawei", Hannigan wrote. NCSC refers to the National Cyber Security Center in the UK.

According to him, assertions that any Chinese technology in any part of a 5G network represents an unacceptable risk are nonsense, and the West should accept that China will be a global tech power in the future.


Huawei had a 28 percent share of the global telecom equipment market in the third quarter of 2018, according to the latest data from research company Dell'Oro Group. Though facing security allegations in some markets, the Shenzhen-based company said in January that it had shipped over 25,000 5G base stations globally, up from the figure of 10,000 it disclosed in late December.


On Thursday, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular news conference in Beijing that network information security is the common concern of all countries.


"All parties can absolutely solve this concern through equal and friendly coordination and appropriate arrangement as long as they hold no prejudice, strengthen mutual trust and don't politicize normal economic behavior," she said.


China hopes that all parties could respect the market principle of fair and free competition, and create a just, fair, nondiscriminatory marketing environment for normal cooperation between companies, she added.

Wang Yanhui, secretary-general of the Mobile China Alliance, said Huawei has been serving European telecom carriers since the 3G era and no evidence has been found of it conducting any malicious cyber activities.


"The world should let the facts speak, and not worry about fear fanned by some countries," Wang said."

Huawei seeks fair deal in US markets - Chinadaily.com.cn


But as we are all aware facts and laws have no business in the western mind set.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Huawei seeks fair deal in US markets

Who's going to trust them when Chinastan makes it the law for them to spy on anyone, and even brings in a law that says it is allowed to hack any company?


Who the fuck is going to give that pile of thieving shit a "Fair Deal" you fucking half wit.

Not only the Huawei, also their bank accounts...

Chinese protest in Madrid against mass bank account freeze

AFP News 15 February 2019

Hundreds of Chinese citizens staged a rare protest Friday at an office of Spain's BBVA bank in Madrid, angrily denouncing that their personal accounts had been frozen without prior warning.

Waving Chinese and Spanish flags, the protesters shouted "racist BBVA" and "we want justice," carrying banners reading "stop banking racism."

Contacted by AFP, BBVA, the second biggest bank in Spain, was not able to detail how many clients had been affected.

In a statement, it said it had frozen accounts to comply with measures to fight money-laundering, adding it was working to resolve the problem.

Protesters said other banks had also frozen accounts of citizens of Chinese origin recently, but to a lesser extent than BBVA.

All banks are asking the customers documents detailing their tax situation and income before they re-open the accounts.

"BBVA bank is blocking all the accounts of Chinese citizens, and even Spanish citizens of Chinese origin," Ding Li, a Marid-based lawyer, told AFP.

He said the bank had not given customers prior warning and is "taking a really long time to respond" to affected customers.

"They closed my account a first time in August, and again two months later," said Ting Ting, the manager of a restaurant in Madrid.

She said BBVA blocked her own account, that of her nine-year-old daughter and of her business.

Unable to pay her suppliers, she had to open an account in another bank.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/chinese-pr...--finance.html

Originally Posted by Cujo

So you accept that Huawei are obliged to spy on their customers for the Chinese government.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Who's going to trust them when Chinastan makes it the law for them to spy on anyone

To assist those who continue to berate a world leading Chinese company Huawei, the company has recently published a website where one can search for factual information and read company factual answers to many questions.

For any here who would like to forgo the constant fake news proffered by some here, this is the link to the UK site:

https://www.huawei.com/facts/huawei-uk.html

Originally Posted by OhOh

To assist those who continue to berate a world leading Chinese company Huawei, the company has recently published a website where one can search for factual information and read company factual answers to many questions.

For any here who would like to forgo the constant fake news proffered by some here, this is the link to the UK site:

https://www.huawei.com/facts/huawei-uk.html

There doesn't appear to be any mention of them being lying bastards who will do the intelligence services bidding and steal trade secrets for the Chinastan government.

They must have forgotten to add that bit.

Good to see another corrupt Chinky getting his comeuppance from the convicts.

Well done Australia

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/02/1...-interference/

Originally Posted by Cujo

How do you know anything they say there is true?
Besides, as Harry points out, it's not what they say but what they ommit.
By the way, you do know that the China Daily is the actual party mouthpiece don't you.
All newspapers might have political bias but that one is officially part of the CCP propoganda machine.

Any Chinky story he posts comes straight from Chinastan state propaganda. And he laughingly calls it "factual information".