The National Counterintelligence Collection and Security Center on Monday (Feb. 1, 2021) released a report saying China has for years collected large amounts of data on health care from the United States and countries around the world by both legal and illegal means, saying the move poses a threat not only to Americans’ personal privacy but also to the U.S. economy and national security.
The National Counterintelligence Collection and Security Center says China has entered the U.S. market and obtained data by acquiring U.S. companies that handle sensitive personal health information and other personal data. Chinese companies have also gained access to U.S. health data by working with U.S. hospitals, universities and other research institutions.
As an example, the report says that during the New Coronavirus pandemic, with a strong push from the Chinese government, China’s Huada Genetics said it had sold virus testing kits to 180 countries worldwide and set up virus testing laboratories in 18 countries as of last August. These activities will help Chinese authorities to collect genetic information from foreigners.
As for illegal methods, the report mentions that Chinese government Hackers breached the computer systems of U.S. health insurance company Anson in 2015, stealing personal data on nearly 80 million people. The U.S. National Counterintelligence Collection and Security Center said that access to this personal data gave the Chinese Communist regime a great opportunity to target employees of the U.S. government and private companies in order to obtain from them the intelligence information that Beijing wants to collect against the United States.
The report concludes that having personal health information on Americans could help China improve its artificial intelligence and ability to develop precision Medicine, and help Chinese biotech companies continue to develop new drugs to take over the global leadership of U.S. biotech companies.
William Evanina, who recently stepped down as director of the National Counterintelligence Collection and Security Center, addressed the report’s main points in an interview with U.S. media just before it was released, and the center retweeted a report of an interview with the former director.
This suggests that the new Biden administration will be as vigilant as the former Trump administration about China’s efforts to collect U.S. personal data and compromise U.S. national security.
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