china

SoftBank gives U.S. right to OK Sprint board member -- report

In a further attempt to ease national security concerns over its proposed acquisition of Sprint, Japan-based SoftBank has agreed to give the U.S. government the right to approve one of the members SoftBank would appoint to Sprint's board of directors, according to a report.

The U.S.-approved board member would make sure a SoftBank-owned Sprint honored whatever security agreement is hammered out with U.S. regulators, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.

Regulators are also seeking oversight of Sprint's network equipment purchases to prevent gear from Chinese suppliers Huawei Technologies and ZTE … Read more

Google breach may have led to sensitive data leaks

U.S. officials are concluding that the 2010 hacks into Google's servers may have ended with Chinese hackers getting ahold of sensitive data, according to The Washington Post.

Current and former government officials told the Post that the hackers were able to access information on U.S. intelligence, as well as find out which possible Chinese spies government officials may have been targeting.

In January 2010, Google shocked the security community by being one of the first tech companies to disclose that it and other companies had been hit by attacks that originated in China. The Web giant said … Read more

Senators propose law to go after foreign cybercriminals

Shortly after the Pentagon announced the Chinese government has been involved in widespread cyberespionage targeting the U.S. government and businesses, a bipartisan group of senators proposed a new law to fight cyber-theft.

The law, dubbed "Deter Cyber Theft Act," was proposed Tuesday by Democrats Carl Levin and Jay Rockefeller and Republicans John McCain and Tom Coburn, according to Reuters. The goal of the legislation is to protect commercial data from foreign hackers and governments.

Several foreign countries, including Russia, Israel, and France, have been blamed for spying on U.S. government Web sites or American businesses, but … Read more

U.S. says Chinese government behind cyberespionage

The Chinese government and military have engaged in widespread cyberespionage targeting U.S. government and business computer networks, the Pentagon said Monday.

China maintained a steady campaign of computer intrusions in 2012 that were designed to acquire information about the U.S. government's foreign policy and military plans, according to the Pentagon's annual report to Congress on China's military.

"China is using its computer network exploitation capability to support intelligence collection against the U.S. diplomatic, economic, and defense industrial base sectors that support U.S. national defense programs," according to the 83-page 2013 "… Read more

Amazon expands its Android Appstore to China

Amazon is aiming to rival Google in China by launching its own Android app store for Chinese consumers.

Unveiled over the weekend, the Chinese version of the Amazon Appstore provides both free and paid apps, Reuters reported Monday. Google Play stocks only free apps for Chinese users, which makes Amazon the first Western tech company to set up a store for paid Android apps in China.

Amazon may now have a leg up on Google. But the retail giant must also square off against local sites in China, many of which offer paid and free apps. Some of the apps … Read more

Tech group pushing to ease rules for exporting broken phones

A trade group that represents Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and several other device makers is pushing to change international rules to make it easier to ship broken mobile phones and other gadgets to developing nations.

The Information Technology Industry Council is suggesting the changes at this week's meeting of the Basel Convention, which oversees the international treaty intended to prevent international toxic waste dumping. The group is proposing new language in the treaty that could reduce the types of gadgets currently considered electronic waste.

The changes are esoteric shifts in what for most consumers is an obscure international document. But, according … Read more

Apple faces $118K fine in China for copyright breach

Apple will have to compensate three Chinese writers for infringing their copyright rights when it sold their books online without first seeking permission.

A China Daily report stated the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled in favor of the authors, and Apple will have to pay them in excess of 730,000 yuan (US$118,000) for the infringement. Apple had not gotten permission before selling their books on the Apple App Store, it noted.

The presiding judge, Feng Gang, said Apple has the duty of checking whether the books uploaded by third-party providers are in line with … Read more

Huawei exec: We're 'not interested' in the U.S.

A Huawei senior executive said Tuesday that the giant Chinese telecom gear maker is "not interested" in the U.S. market any longer.

According to reports by Reuters and the Financial Times, Eric Xu, Huawei executive vice president and one of its three rotating chief executives, expressed exasperation at inquiries by U.S. lawmakers into concerns that the company's gear could be used to snoop on American companies or individuals. Last fall, the House Intelligence committee issued an extensive report discouraging American companies from buying Huawei gear over espionage fears.

At an analyst conference Tuesday in Shenzhen, … Read more

Cyberattacks triple in 2012, Akamai says

Cyberwarfare incidences jumped sharply in 2012, Akamai said, with the number of distributed denial of service attacks more than tripling from the previous year.

Akamai, one of the world's largest globally distributed networks, said its customers reported being targeted by 768 DDoS attacks last year, more than three times as many as in 2011. The company's State of the Internet report released Tuesday also found that more than a third of those attacks targeted the commerce sector, while another 20 percent targeted enterprise customers.

"In many ways, DDoS has become the weapon of choice for multiple types … Read more