Tag: Computers and the Internet

The Chip Titan Whose Life’s Work Is at the Center of a Tech Cold War

Media Library

In a wood-paneled office overlooking Taipei and the jungle-covered mountains that surround the Taiwanese capital, Morris Chang recently pulled out an old book stamped with technicolor patterns. It was titled “Introduction to VLSI Systems,” a graduate-level textbook describing the intricacies of computer chip design. Mr. Chang, 92, held it up with reverence. “I want to show you the date of this book, 1980,” he said. The timing was important, he added, as it was “the earliest piece” in a puzzle that came together for him — altering not only his…

Judge Rejects Hong Kong’s Bid to Ban Pro-Democracy Song From Internet

Media Library

The Hong Kong authorities suffered a surprising setback on Friday when a judge denied their request to ban a popular pro-democracy song from the internet. The government was seeking an injunction that could have given it the power to force Google and other tech companies to restrict access to the song. Since coming under the tighter grip of Beijing several years ago, Hong Kong has jailed political opponents, quashed street protest and shuttered pro-democracy newspapers. But the internet, unlike in mainland China, has remained largely free of government control. At…

“Glory to Hong Kong” Injunction Ruling Will Be Made Next Week

Media Library

A Hong Kong judge said on Friday that he would rule next week on a government request to ban a popular pro-democracy song from the internet, in a case that could force Google and other companies to restrict access to the song. At issue is “Glory to Hong Kong,” which was the anthem of the 2019 protests that ended with Beijing taking tighter control over Hong Kong. The authorities argue that the song is an insult to China’s national anthem and could make people believe that Hong Kong is an…

Hacking of Government Email Was Traditional Espionage, Official Says

Media Library

The hack of Microsoft’s cloud that resulted in the compromise of government emails was an example of a traditional espionage threat, a senior National Security Agency official said. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Rob Joyce, the director of cybersecurity at the N.S.A., said the United States needed to protect its networks from such espionage, but that adversaries would continue to try to secretly extract information from each other. “It is China doing espionage,” Mr. Joyce said. “It is what nation-states do. We have to defend against it, we need…

Chinese Hackers Gained Access to Government Email Accounts, Microsoft Says

Media Library

Chinese hackers intent on collecting intelligence on the United States gained access to government email accounts, Microsoft disclosed on Tuesday night. In a blog post, Microsoft said about 25 organizations, including government agencies, had been compromised by the hacking group, which used forged authentication tokens to get access to individual email accounts. Hackers had access to at least some of the accounts for a month before the breach was detected, Microsoft said. It did not identify the organizations and agencies affected. The new breach does not appear to be of…

After China Arrested Her Husband, A Wife Discovered His Secret Dissident Blog

Media Library

It wasn’t as if Bei Zhenying didn’t know that her husband was unusual, or even that he had some secrets. He was a talented computer programmer, and she fell for his inquisitive intelligence and playfulness when they met at university in Shanghai. But he was also proudly nonconformist — refusing to use social media or buy new clothes — and intensely private, disappearing into his study to do work he wouldn’t discuss. Ms. Bei, 45, accepted those quirks as the habits of a professional geek, someone engrossed in a world…

China’s Cloud Computing Firms Raise Concern for U.S.

Media Library

Samm Sacks, a cyber policy fellow at the New America think tank, said the interest in cloud computing reflected the Biden administration’s approach of looking at Chinese influence in the infrastructure of the internet and the digital services that use the web. “There’s an intent to focus on the whole ecosystem across those layers,” she said. U.S. efforts to hinder Chinese tech firms have had mixed success. American restrictions on suppliers to Huawei hurt the company’s smartphone business, but efforts to remove Huawei equipment from wireless networks inside the United…

Senators Accuse TikTok of Misleading Congress on U.S. User Data

Media Library

Two senators sent a letter to TikTok’s chief executive on Tuesday, accusing the company of making misleading claims to Congress around how it stores and handles American user data, and demanding answers to more than a dozen questions by the end of next week. The letter, from Senators Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, and Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, focused on how sensitive data about American users may be stored in China and how employees there may have access to it. The lawmakers said recent reports from The New York…

Chinese Malware Hits Systems on Guam. Is Taiwan the Real Target?

Media Library

Around the time that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was examining the equipment recovered from the wreckage of the Chinese spy balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast in February, American intelligence agencies and Microsoft detected what they feared was a more worrisome intruder: mysterious computer code that has been popping up in telecommunications systems in Guam and elsewhere in the United States. The code, which Microsoft said was installed by a Chinese government hacking group, raised alarms because Guam, with its Pacific ports and vast American air base, would…

China Escalates U.S. Tech War With Micron Ban

Media Library

When cutting foreign technology companies from Chinese supply chains, Beijing has long chosen to work obliquely or even secretly. Regulators would give executives back-room lectures, weigh them down with excessive red tape or hit them with occasional office raids. Rarely did the government tell a firm outright it was no longer welcome. But that is what it signaled to Micron Technology in a late-night announcement on Sunday. The Chinese government banned companies that handle critical information from purchasing microchips made by the Boise, Idaho-based Micron. The company’s chips, which are…