THE OBSERVATION BOOTH
OP / ED BY ANDREA DIALECT
Observers, let me reintroduce you to this week’s Page Jacker and the newest Andre Dialect$ Geek Squad inductee, Raiden Pipkins. With an intriguingly sharp political mind and a geek streak that slices through the noise, Raiden has a knack for breaking down the chaos of politics like no other. Buckle up – For this week, take over.
Check out the draft below and get the 411. Visit Localtalkweekly.com to read the full story in the Entertainment section. While you’re at it, check out the archives and get familiar with all things Andrea Dialect. Follow my daily Andrea Dialect Portal sessions on Facebook and my msdialect on Instagram, and let’s grow out loud together! Like, follow, and share.
PAGE JACKIN
China Strikes Again!
By Raiden Pipkins | www.linkedin.com/in/raiden-pipkins-173326263
Dep. of Treasury and Phone Calls Compromised!
The United States Treasury Department stated on December 8th that the Chinese Government hacked them by compromising third-party security vendor “Beyond Trust”. The APT( Advanced Persistent Threat) group behind the attack was determined to be Volt Typhoon of the Chinese Government and China’s Ministry of State Security (China’s version of CIA and NSA). This group has been active for years and has been conducting similar attacks on many other countries worldwide. In 2017 the FBI charged 4 people acting on behalf of the Chinese Military for hacking Equifax and being responsible for the mass data theft of 145 Million Americans.
Ukrainian hackers are currently wreaking chaos for Russia in the war, Israel’s notorious 8200 division is one of the greatest and most capable hacking groups on the planet. Despite all of this China still spends more on their cyber capabilities than both of these 2 countries combined. This shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise considering the PRC (People’s Republic of China) has mastered the art of corporate espionage, stealing secret information, and intellectual property over the last decade.
In August 2024, news broke that the hacking group Salt Typhoon of the Chinese State Ministry hacked into major US Telecommunications providers such as Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. 9+ telecom companies have been suspected of being hacked into by the Chinese Government as of late December. According to investigators, the telecom hack dates back to 2022, so for 2 years Salt Typhoon has had access to the Service Providers and gone undetected. If you have Verizon, T-Mobile, or AT&T just know there is a legitimate possibility China had access to all of your phone records and might’ve used said information to compromise your accounts or the organization(s) you work for.
It is logical to suspect the reason behind the Telecom attacks was targeting top government officials and politicians. Kamala Harris and her team were targeted, Donald Trump’s Campaign Team along with his family members were also believed to have been targeted by Salt Typhoon. In the simplest words: to spy and gather as much information as possible on them and their future plans.
Why is the Telecom hack a problem for us, if you are pro-privacy then you don’t want ANYONE seeing your data, not the government, not the NSA, and not China. At least the US has rules and laws it has to follow. But none of that applies to a foreign country. Staunch Privacy Activists and Security/Technology Expert, Mental Outlaw says aside from listening to private conversations with loved ones, the Hackers know of the potential to bypass the 2-factor authentication SMS method.
For example, your favorite banking/payment app sends a verification code but it is intercepted by the hacker via service providers. Couple this with “SIM swapping” and they can have access to your PayPal, CashApp, Crypto Wallet, etc. without you even knowing and even permanently lock you out. Mental outlaw recommend using an anthenticator app to dodge this potentially devastating exploit. Just a couple of months ago an anonymous hacker dumped the leaked data and social security numbers of approximately 200 million people. The National Records Organization was sued for failing to keep people’s information private. So this info in conjunction with backdoors in US service providers means China has all that is needed to grant themselves access to many of Americans’ accounts online.
The smoking gun is the government is now recommending people encrypt all of their communications and use private messaging apps…Yes, the same apps they have been trying to shut down for years. When it was just law enforcement, FBI, and NSA that had access the government wanted to ban encryption outright. But now they realize that China and other Governments can see your data they become the number 1 spokesperson for private messaging apps; What’s App, Signal, and Messenger.
These two computer assaults are nothing new, big companies that hold access to your private data are constantly being hacked by foreign governments, and there are constant massive data leaks that could have your account records being dumped onto the internet for anyone to see on a regular basis. All the more reason to practice good password hygiene and utilize private encrypted messaging apps. This is only the beginning, I can assure you the most devastating attacks have yet to come. As for China’s Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon, this is likely just the first wave.
FYI…
Sources
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86w2evj05do
- https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/chinese-hackers-charged-in-equifax-breach-021020
- https://youtu.be/H6U4AtPfY7s?si=M0_BiLbDZo0ocAMT
- https://www.crn.com/news/security/2024/5-things-to-know-on-the-major-us-treasury-department-hack
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3weye2j0e7o
- https://youtu.be/jZ1zpbKydyE?si=rwTQOXO8M2PmFZ5w
- https://youtu.be/ZmN-MCi96wM?si=-uzC2ADfaLPgvaQo
- https://youtu.be/A-WrCyGvLik?si=rYAqZOYaXETfuBUB
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