1. 4/15/16, 4:17 PMCyber Security from China’s Perspective – What the Experts Say – Boston Global Forum
Page 1 of 3http://bostonglobalforum.org/2016/02/cyber-security-from-chinas-perspective-what-the-experts-say/
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(12th Feb 2016) Dick Pirozzolo – Managing Director of Pirozzolo Company Public Relations shared his view about how China thinks about
cyber-security. Dick Pirozzolo serves on the editorial board of Boston Global Forum and is co-author, with Michael Morris, of a forthcoming
novel that takes place in Vietnam during April of 1975.
U.S. OFFICIALLY LAUNCHESU.S. OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES
CYBERWAR ON ISLAMIC STATECYBERWAR ON ISLAMIC STATE
LINKS TO CHINESE OFFICIALS INLINKS TO CHINESE OFFICIALS IN
OFFSHORE TAX-HAVENOFFSHORE TAX-HAVEN
DOCUMENT DROPDOCUMENT DROP
FIGHT OVER DATA PRIVACY MAYFIGHT OVER DATA PRIVACY MAY
BE JUST STARTINGBE JUST STARTING
FBI PUTS 2 SYRIAN HACKERS ONFBI PUTS 2 SYRIAN HACKERS ON
A MOST-WANTED LISTA MOST-WANTED LIST
CHINESE CYBER-ATTACKS ONCHINESE CYBER-ATTACKS ON
U.S. CONTINUE UNABATEDU.S. CONTINUE UNABATED
APPLE HYPOCRITICAL IN BATTLEAPPLE HYPOCRITICAL IN BATTLE
WITH FBI OVER IPHONE?WITH FBI OVER IPHONE?
APPLE SHOULD GIVE ACCESS TOAPPLE SHOULD GIVE ACCESS TO
TERRORIST’S IPHONETERRORIST’S IPHONE
DNI: CHINA CONTINUES CYBERDNI: CHINA CONTINUES CYBER
ESPIONAGEESPIONAGE
A FIGHT OVER ADS,A FIGHT OVER ADS,
ENCRYPTION AND LAWENCRYPTION AND LAW
ENFORCEMENTENFORCEMENT
OBAMA PLEADS FOROBAMA PLEADS FOR
COOPERATION ON SMARTPHONECOOPERATION ON SMARTPHONE

2. 4/15/16, 4:17 PMCyber Security from China’s Perspective – What the Experts Say – Boston Global Forum
Page 2 of 3http://bostonglobalforum.org/2016/02/cyber-security-from-chinas-perspective-what-the-experts-say/
Read his view below
Why China hacks may be more in the Communist Party’s DNA and view of the Internet than anything else, according to Sharon Hom,
executive director of Human Rights in China, a Chinese Non-Government Organization. Hom spoke during a recent panel discussion
organized by the Christian Science Monitor in Boston.
Hom explained, “While in the US and most of the world, citizens regard the Internet as a big open international and transparent
communication phenomenon,
the Communist Party wants control of society and information. Though it is not a linear path from censorship and control to hacking the Internet,
the Party needs to manage expression online.” In China, “Cyber security means security of the Party.”
The event was organized, in part, to promote the Monitor’s online section Passcode which it bills as a field guide to security and privacy.
When it comes to establishing international norms for Internet behavior that would presumably reduce hacking, Hom is not optimistic pointing
out that whenever norms come up, China, Iran, Russia, Pakistan and other bad actors, unite to pose obstacles in a, “race to the bottom.”
In sharp contrast to these nations, Boston Global Forum has recognized Japan, host of the next G7 meeting in March, for supporting
international norms. Commenting on the Forum’s international ethics code of conduct, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Boston-based
think tank members: “Japan will continue to cooperate closely with the US and other partners … while playing a leading role in achieving the
peace and stability of the international community.”
In addition to Japan and the US, G7 nations include Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Italy.
Panelist Adam Segal added, that the Chinese government sees the Internet from the perspective of “cyber sovereignty and as an entity that the
government can develop as it sees fit.”
Segal, director of the Digital Cyberspace Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations emphasized that a big part of China’s incentive to
hack other nation’s computers is to obtain intellectual property from foreign companies. Segal told attendees, “China does not want to be the
factory of the world and is worried about the future of technology.” For example, “While China probably manufacturers all the DVD players
sold in the world, the head that reads the disc is proprietary and owned by companies in Japan.”
Though China’s theft of 22 million personnel records from the Federal Office of Personnel Management is well known, private companies have
been closed mouthed about such intrusions until Google announced, “We’ve been hacked along with 30 other companies,” according to
Segal. Segal also reported on a hack of Boeing’s computer’s a few years ago in his cover article titled: Why China Hacks the World, in the
February 1, 2016 edition of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly.
ACCESSACCESS

3. 4/15/16, 4:17 PMCyber Security from China’s Perspective – What the Experts Say – Boston Global Forum
Page 3 of 3http://bostonglobalforum.org/2016/02/cyber-security-from-chinas-perspective-what-the-experts-say/
JOHN SAVAGE Live on Feb 22: John Savage’s talk on Strategies for Combating Cyber-
Terrorism
In addition to stealing intellectual property to gain technological advantage, China is also engaged in what Segal called the world’s oldest
profession “espionage” and strives to obtain secrets about the F22 and F35 fighter jets and other weapon systems. China also uses hacking as
a form of external censorship by “intimidating reporters, “ who write articles unfavorable to this nation of 1.4 Billion.
“Is there bad hacking and good hacking?” asked moderator Mike Farrell, editor of the Monitor’s Passcode publication. Panelists agreed that
government-to-government spying is considered acceptable, but for a government to hack into another country’s businesses steal the information
and pass it to companies inside its own borders is outside any acceptable norm.
Michael Sulmeyer, director of the Belfer Center’s Cyber Security Project at the Harvard Kennedy School, pointed out that the current state of
cyber security “is like leaving a bag money on your front lawn and being stunned to learn that someone stole it during the night. At least make
harder. Make them work. Make sure it’s not the jayvee team but that the varsity team is needed hack into your systems.”
While it might be comforting to think about like-kind retaliation, it is not always possible. Segal explained relationships between the US and
China are complex and come with competing values, “Fifty percent of Apple’s revenue comes from China. One of the worlds biggest
technology companies is not likely to want heavy-handed retaliation.”
Though Hom devotes much of her time to combatting cyber hacking and theft, she says people in her office continue to ignore fundamental
security measures and continue to, “stick Post-it notes to their computers containing their passwords, because they have so many to remember.”
“Cyber defenses though are a stopgap. The real solution is more evolutionary,” says Hom and will come about, ‘When governments like China
stop using the Internet as a tool of social engineering.”
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