Book Review: The Chinese Information War 139
benrothke writes "It's said that truth is stranger than fiction, as fiction has to make sense. Had The Chinese Information War: Espionage, Cyberwar, Communications Control and Related Threats to United States Interests been written as a spy thriller, it would have been a fascinating novel of international intrigue. But the book is far from a novel. It's a dense, well-researched overview of China's cold-war like cyberwar tactics against the US to regain its past historical glory and world dominance." Read below for the rest of Ben's review.
Author Dennis Poindexter shows that Chinese espionage isn't made up of lone wolves. Rather it's under the directive and long-term planning of the Chinese government and military. The Chinese Information War: Espionage, Cyberwar, Communications Control and Related Threats to United States Interests | |
author | Dennis Poindexter |
pages | 192 |
publisher | McFarland |
rating | 9/10 |
reviewer | Ben Rothke |
ISBN | 978-0786472710 |
summary | Fascinating overview on the cyberwar with China |
Many people growing up in the 1940's expressed the sentiment "we were poor, but didn't know it". Poindexter argues that we are in a cyberwar with China; but most people are oblivious to it.
Rather than being a polemic against China, Poindexter backs it up with extensive factual research. By the end of the book, the sheer number of guilty pleas by Chinese nationals alone should be a staggering wake-up call.
In February, Mandiant released their groundbreaking report APT1: Exposing One of Chinas Cyber Espionage Units, which focused on APT1, the most prolific Chinese cyber-espionage group that Mandiant tracked. APT1 has conducted a cyber-espionage campaign against a broad range of victims since at least 2006. The report has evidence linking them to China's 2nd Bureau of the People's Liberation Army.
China is using this cyberwar to their supreme advantage and as Poindexter writes on page 1: until we see ourselves in a war, we can't fight it effectively. Part of the challenge is that cyberwar does not fit the definition of what a war generally is because the Chinese have changed the nature of war to carry it out.
Poindexter makes his case in fewer than 200 pages and provides ample references in his detailed research; including many details, court cases and guilty verdicts of how the Chinese government and military work hand in hand to achieve their goals.
The book should of interest to everyone given the implications of what China is doing. If you are planning to set up shop in China, be it R&D, manufacturing or the like, read this book. If you have intellectual property or confidential data in China, read this book as you need to know the risks before you lose control of your data there.
Huawei Technologies, a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and services firm; now the largest telecommunications equipment maker in the world is detailed in the book. Poindexter details a few cases involving Huawei and writes that if Huawei isn't linked to Chinese intelligence, then it's the most persecuted company in the history of international trade.
The book details in chapter 2 the intersection between cyberwar and economic war. He writes that any foreign business in China is required to share detailed design documents with the Chinese government in order to do business there. For many firms, the short-term economic incentives blind them to the long-term risks of losing control of their data. The book notes that in the Cold War with Russia, the US understood what Russia was trying to do. The US therefore cut back trade with Russia, particularly in areas where there might be some military benefit to them. But the US isn't doing that with China.
Chapter 2 closes with a damming indictment where Poindexter writes that the Chinese steal our technology, rack up sales back to us, counterfeit our goods, take our jobs and own a good deal of our debt. The problem he notes is that too many people focus solely on the economic relations between the US and China, and ignore the underpinnings of large-scale cyber-espionage.
Chapter 6 details that the Chinese have developed a long-term approach. They have deployed numerous sleepers who often wait decades and only then work slowly and stealthily. A point Poindexter makes many times is that the Chinese think big, but move slow.
Chapter 7 is appropriately titles The New Cold War. In order to win this war, Poindexter suggest some radical steps to stop it. He notes that the US needs to limit trade with China to items we can't get anywhere else. He says not to supply China with the rope that will be used to hang the US on.
He writes that the Federal Government has to deal with the issue seriously and quickly, to protect its telecommunications interests so that China isn't able to cut it all off one day. He also notes that national security must no longer take a backseat to price and cheap labor.
Poindexter writes that the US Government must take a long-view to the solution and he writes that it will take 10 years to build up the type of forces that that would be needed to counter the business and government spying that the Chinese are doing.
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is the archetypal wake-up call book. Poindexter has written his version of Silent Spring,but it's unlikely that any action will be taken. As the book notes, the Chinese are so blatantly open about their goals via cyber-espionage, and their denials of it so arrogant, that business as usual simply carries on.
The Chinese portray themselves as benevolent benefactors, much like the Kanamits in To Serve Man. Just as the benevolence of the Kanamits was a façade, so too is what is going on with the cold cyberwar with China.
The book is an eye-opening expose that details the working of the Chinese government and notes that for most of history, China was the world's dominating force. The Chinese have made it their goal to regain that dominance.
The book states what the Chinese are trying to accomplish and lays out the cold facts. Will there be a response to this fascinating book? Will Washington take action? Will they limit Chinese access to strategic US data? Given Washington is operating in a mode of sequestration, the answer should be obvious.
The message detailed in The Chinese Information War: Espionage, Cyberwar, Communications Control and Related Threats to United States Interests should be a wake-up call. But given that it is currently ranked #266,881 on Amazon, it seems as if most of America is sleeping through this threat.
Reviewed by Ben Rothke
You can purchase The Chinese Information War: Espionage, Cyberwar, Communications Control and Related Threats to United States Interests from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews (sci-fi included) -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
So the distraction tactics begin, even on slashdot (Score:0, Informative)
Let's point fingers at everyone else and ignore the fact that the US is still the worst of them all, combined.
Re:you could steal secrets back.. and are (Score:5, Informative)
Oh bullshit. The US is the #1 manufacturing country on the planet, or damn close to it.
http://shopfloor.org/2011/03/u-s-manufacturing-remains-worlds-largest/18756 [shopfloor.org]
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/finance/2011/January/US-Manufacturing-Remains-No-1-in-World/ [cbn.com]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/china-us-manufacturing_n_835470.html [huffingtonpost.com]
In terms of worker productivity it isn't close. The average US worker produces almost 10 times as much value as the average Chinese worker.
Re:Here comes the Chinese Water Army (Score:4, Informative)
The US does similar: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks [guardian.co.uk]
And I would imagine at the cost, many countries do it. Its kind of like affiliate marketing [wikipedia.org], but more honest.
Re:you could steal secrets back.. and are (Score:2, Informative)
Most of the manufacturing here is highly automated.
If its not highly automated or skirts the law somehow it is usually done in another country.
Why? It costs a decent amount of money to ship across the world. If you can build it here and do it cheaper than an army of underpaid workers plus shipping it will be here. Automation almost always wins. Except in 'one off' building. Things such as the iPhone can be automated to a point. But some assembly is required also next year the whole thing will be a different design. Bic pens on the other hand change very little other than color and style.
Most furniture and clothing is now made third world. They literally picked up the factory and moved them. Why? They could not be automated very well and an army of under paid workers is cheaper there than here. That is the 'giant sucking sound as jobs go south'. If they highly automate it you will see it all come back.
Re:According to the author, publisher, reviewer, (Score:2, Informative)
Re: "...belligerence over any worthless island..."
My understanding is that territorial disputes over islands, particularly uninhabited islands, rarely has much to do with the island itself. The goal is to gain control over large areas of the seabed.
Once a nation gains international recognition of ownership of an island, they gain control over all the seabed between that island and the continental territory. Furthermore due to international law they gain 12 miles beyond the perimeter of the island. This assumes that a continental shelf connects the two. This is absolute control you understand.
In addition, there are partial rights and control beyond the 12 mile limit, extending out 200 miles.
That's why nations will fight for territorial rights to "worthless islands".