As China advances in technology, Beijing is expanding its spy network beyond its borders. China is suspected of spying on US citizens through mobile phone networks in the Caribbean, according to a new report.
Gary Miller, a former director of mobile network security in Washington state, said China was exploiting vulnerabilities in global telecommunications networks to lock, track and intercept the information of MOBILE phone users in the US through telecoms operators.
Miller worked at Mobileum, the mobile security company he founded, Exigent Media, a cybersecurity research firm. He said he wanted to expose the “gravity of this activity” and help deploy a response.
According to Mr Miller, who has years of experience analysing mobile threat intelligence and signalling traffic, China is using mobile networks in the Caribbean for surveillance activities. China allegedly used China Unicom, the state-owned mobile phone operator, to send signaling messages to Americans, often while they were traveling abroad.
The information is sent by operators over a global network without the phone user’s knowledge, allowing operators to locate users, connect to other phone users and assess roaming charges. The report also says these signaling instructions can be used to track, monitor and intercept communications.
Mr Miller said China was found to have carried out the most surveillance attacks on US mobile phone users through 3G and 4G networks in 2018.
“Once you get into the tens of thousands, these attacks qualify as mass surveillance, primarily for intelligence gathering purposes, not necessarily against high-profile targets,” he said.
Despite the allegations, without a formal investigation, it is difficult to know whether Caribbean telecom operators and China Unicom were aware of surveillance activities in China. But Mr Miller argues that China rents network addresses from Caribbean telecoms operators through a commercial entity, co-ordinating information and routes without their knowledge.
Miller said us authorities have not done enough to protect mobile phone users. “Government agencies and Congress have been aware of vulnerabilities in public mobile networks for years. The security recommendations made by our government have not been followed and are not sufficient to deter the attackers.”
In a statement, China Unicom said it “strongly refutes the allegation that China Unicom used its international telecommunications network to conduct active surveillance attacks on mobile phone users in the United States.” The Chinese Embassy in Washington has also denied the allegations.
China’s mass surveillance has been widely reported by the intelligence community. As China’s technology advances, the Communist Party has used digital tools, including mobile apps and hacking tools, to expand its spy networks beyond China’s borders.
This month, the FEDERAL Communications Commission formally launched a review of China Telecom Americas. The FCC has previously said China Telecom Americas, the parent company of China Telecom Americas, is effectively controlled by the Chinese government and poses a national security threat to the U.S.
‘I really can’t think of a bigger security threat than the Chinese Communist Party and its enabler,’ FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told the meeting at the time. In this respect, our record is clear: the Chinese government seeks to monitor people in the United States for government security, espionage advantages, and intellectual property and business advantages.
At the same meeting, the FCC also rejected a request by The Chinese telecommunications giant huawei to reconsider its decision to list the company as a national security threat to U.S. telecommunications networks, and decided to set up a financial compensation program for dismantling equipment from Huawei and ZTE in the United States.
James Andrew Lewis, senior vice president and director of the Science and Technology Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA the United States distrusts China, and for good reason.
“No one trusts Chinese technology or China anymore,” he said. This is a surveillance country that uses high technology made in China for espionage activities and does not respect the law.”
Recent Comments