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Hacking. Disinformation. Surveillance. CYBER is Motherboard's podcast and reporting on the dark underbelly of the internet.
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Pangu Lab could not be reached for comment. This is not the first time a Chinese cybersecurity company published research on an alleged American intelligence hacking operation. But it’s “pretty rare,” as Adam Segal, an expert in China’s cybersecurity at the Council on Foreign Relations, put it in an email to Motherboard.“I don't know who Pangu's customers are, but it might also be something their customers want to hear right now, just like lots of Western cybersecurity companies post about Russian malware, because everyone in the West wants to hear about it right now,” Martijn Grooten, a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, told Motherboard in an online chat. “It also sounds like something the NSA would have the capabilities of doing. And something China would love to make public, especially now.”Do you have more information about this case? Or similar cases of government hacking? We’d love to hear from you. From a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, Wickr/Telegram/Wire @lorenzofb, or email lorenzofb@vice.com
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For Richard Bejtlich, another veteran of the cybersecurity industry and author in residence at security firm Corelight, it’s a good thing that Chinese companies, and presumably China’s government, are improving their attribution capabilities, as “it will increase overall geopolitical stability,” as he tweeted. “It is an inherently unstable situation to have parties lacking visibility into adversary activity. It breeds paranoia and in many cases an incentive to strike first. When you have insights into your adversary you can make more informed decisions,” Bejtlich told Motherboard in an online chat. “ When you lack them you are constantly worrying about being attacked, or already attacked, etc., and you can't be sure who is responsible. It's a classic intelligence situation. That's why spies on both sides are counterintuitively important.”Subscribe to our cybersecurity podcast, CYBER. Subscribe to our new Twitch channel.