China has been at the forefront of cybersecurity news the past few weeks, so to catch you up, this Cyber Round Up will focus on China.

China’s New Cyber Weapon (NYTimes Reports): In an apparent effort to take out services that allow China’s Internet users to view websites otherwise blocked in the country, China has turned to a new cyber weapon researchers call “the Great Cannon.” The new cyber weapon allows China to intercept web traffic as it flows to Chinese websites, inject malicious code and repurpose the traffic. (For a WSJ article crediting Snowden with providing China with this new weapon click here, or if you do not have access to online WSJ read a Business Insider summary of the article here). Recent targets include GitHub, a San Francisco-based code-sharing site, and Greatfire.org, a nonprofit that runs mirror images of sites that are blocked inside China. According to Fox News, many view this as an attack by a nation state against key United States Internet infrastructure, and are calling for a government response. Read the full story here: (NYTimes)(FoxNews).

Businesses Fear China’s New Cyber Regulations (Reuters Reports): China is now considering cybersecurity regulations that could limit opportunities for foreign technology companies. As a result, American CEOs are either avoiding the Chinese market or planning to reduce their exposure there, and according to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, “these fears are real . . . it’s a lose-lose situation.” According to Reuters, “[b]usiness groups fear the regulations would favor domestic products or require that companies disclose to the government sensitive intellectual property, encryption keys or install ‘backdoors’ in products.” While many view this as an attempt by China to eliminate foreign companies from the market, a NYTimes report quotes Zuo Xiaodong, vice president of the China Information Security Research Institute, who explains that is not a viable option for the Chinese banking industry because the banks purchase billions of dollars’ worth of hardware and software to manage transactions, and Chinese companies cannot yet produce some of the higher-end servers and mainframes they rely on. Read the full story here: (Reuters) (NYTimes). For an excellent in-depth opinion piece on the topic that draws in history and discusses potential ramifications of the regulations, click here: (Adam Segal: What to do about China’s New Cybersecurity Regulations).

China Hacks Regional  Rivals (FireEye Report): According to researchers at internet security company FireEye, hackers have been spying on governments and businesses in Southeast Asia and India uninterrupted for a decade, and those hackers are most likely from…China. While the exact damage is unclear due to the prolonged period of the attacks, FireEye researchers stressed that the impact could be massive. According to the company, “[t]heir targets possess information that most likely serves the Chinese government’s needs for intelligence about key Southeast Asian regional political, economic, and military issues, disputed territories, and discussions related to the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party.” Read the full story here: (Reuters) (Techcrunch). Click for the full FireEye Report.

Cyber Dialogue between China and U.S. (The Hill Reports): China and the U.S. have agreed to set a path to re-establishing a full government to government cyber dialogue. The two countries have a rocky history when it comes to cooperating over cyber issues. In May 2014, China quit a joint working group after the Obama administration indicted five members of the Chinese military for hacking the U.S. However, following DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson’s recent visit to Beijing, the DHS and China’s Ministry of Public Sector have agreed to focus on cross border cyber-enabled crimes like money laundering and online child sexual exploitation. Read the full story here: (The Hill) (Engadget) (USA Today).

China has been at the forefront of cybersecurity news the past few weeks, so to catch you up, this Cyber Round Up will focus on China.

China’s New Cyber Weapon (NYTimes Reports): In an apparent effort to take out services that allow China’s Internet users to view websites otherwise blocked in the country, China has turned to a new cyber weapon researchers call “the Great Cannon.” The new cyber weapon allows China to intercept web traffic as it flows to Chinese websites, inject malicious code and repurpose the traffic. (For a WSJ article crediting Snowden with providing China with this new weapon click here, or if you do not have access to online WSJ read a Business Insider summary of the article here). Recent targets include GitHub, a San Francisco-based code-sharing site, and Greatfire.org, a nonprofit that runs mirror images of sites that are blocked inside China. According to Fox News, many view this as an attack by a nation state against key United States Internet infrastructure, and are calling for a government response. Read the full story here: (NYTimes)(FoxNews).

Businesses Fear China’s New Cyber Regulations (Reuters Reports): China is now considering cybersecurity regulations that could limit opportunities for foreign technology companies. As a result, American CEOs are either avoiding the Chinese market or planning to reduce their exposure there, and according to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, “these fears are real . . . it’s a lose-lose situation.” According to Reuters, “[b]usiness groups fear the regulations would favor domestic products or require that companies disclose to the government sensitive intellectual property, encryption keys or install ‘backdoors’ in products.” While many view this as an attempt by China to eliminate foreign companies from the market, a NYTimes report quotes Zuo Xiaodong, vice president of the China Information Security Research Institute, who explains that is not a viable option for the Chinese banking industry because the banks purchase billions of dollars’ worth of hardware and software to manage transactions, and Chinese companies cannot yet produce some of the higher-end servers and mainframes they rely on. Read the full story here: (Reuters) (NYTimes). For an excellent in-depth opinion piece on the topic that draws in history and discusses potential ramifications of the regulations, click here: (Adam Segal: What to do about China’s New Cybersecurity Regulations).

China Hacks Regional  Rivals (FireEye Report): According to researchers at internet security company FireEye, hackers have been spying on governments and businesses in Southeast Asia and India uninterrupted for a decade, and those hackers are most likely from…China. While the exact damage is unclear due to the prolonged period of the attacks, FireEye researchers stressed that the impact could be massive. According to the company, “[t]heir targets possess information that most likely serves the Chinese government’s needs for intelligence about key Southeast Asian regional political, economic, and military issues, disputed territories, and discussions related to the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party.” Read the full story here: (Reuters) (Techcrunch). Click for the full FireEye Report.

Cyber Dialogue between China and U.S. (The Hill Reports): China and the U.S. have agreed to set a path to re-establishing a full government to government cyber dialogue. The two countries have a rocky history when it comes to cooperating over cyber issues. In May 2014, China quit a joint working group after the Obama administration indicted five members of the Chinese military for hacking the U.S. However, following DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson’s recent visit to Beijing, the DHS and China’s Ministry of Public Sector have agreed to focus on cross border cyber-enabled crimes like money laundering and online child sexual exploitation. Read the full story here: (The Hill) (Engadget) (USA Today).