Tsinghua Unigroup ex-chairman gets suspended death sentence over corruption
BEIJING (Reuters) -- A Chinese court handed Zhao Weiguo, the former chairman of semiconductor firm Tsinghua Unigroup, a suspended death sentence on Wednesday after he was found guilty of corruption and embezzlement, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday.
The court in northeastern Jilin province sentenced Zhao to death with a two-year reprieve, the report said, meaning the sentence will only be carried out if he commits further crimes during the period. After the two years, he will face a life sentence.
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Japan Today
4 hours ago
- Japan Today
Chinese hackers and user lapses turn smartphones into a 'mobile security crisis'
FILE - A child holds an iPhone at an Apple store on Sept. 25, 2015 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File) By DAVID KLEPPER Cybersecurity investigators noticed a highly unusual software crash — it was affecting a small number of smartphones belonging to people who worked in government, politics, tech and journalism. The crashes, which began late last year and carried into 2025, were the tipoff to a sophisticated cyberattack that may have allowed hackers to infiltrate a phone without a single click from the user. The attackers left no clues about their identities, but investigators at the cybersecurity firm iVerify noticed that the victims all had something in common: They worked in fields of interest to China's government and had been targeted by Chinese hackers in the past. Foreign hackers have increasingly identified smartphones, other mobile devices and the apps they use as a weak link in U.S. cyberdefenses. Groups linked to China's military and intelligence service have targeted the smartphones of prominent Americans and burrowed deep into telecommunication networks, according to national security and tech experts. It shows how vulnerable mobile devices and apps are and the risk that security failures could expose sensitive information or leave American interests open to cyberattack, those experts say. 'The world is in a mobile security crisis right now,' said Rocky Cole, a former cybersecurity expert at the National Security Agency and Google and now chief operations officer at iVerify. 'No one is watching the phones.' U.S. authorities warned in December of a sprawling Chinese hacking campaign designed to gain access to the texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. 'They were able to listen in on phone calls in real time and able to read text messages,' said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. He is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and the senior Democrat on the Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, created to study the geopolitical threat from China. Chinese hackers also sought access to phones used by Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance during the 2024 campaign. The Chinese government has denied allegations of cyberespionage, and accused the U.S. of mounting its own cyberoperations. It says America cites national security as an excuse to issue sanctions against Chinese organizations and keep Chinese technology companies from the global market. 'The U.S. has long been using all kinds of despicable methods to steal other countries' secrets,' Lin Jian, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, said at a recent press conference in response to questions about a CIA push to recruit Chinese informants. U.S. intelligence officials have said China poses a significant, persistent threat to U.S. economic and political interests, and it has harnessed the tools of digital conflict: online propaganda and disinformation, artificial intelligence and cyber surveillance and espionage designed to deliver a significant advantage in any military conflict. Mobile networks are a top concern. The U.S. and many of its closest allies have banned Chinese telecom companies from their networks. Other countries, including Germany, are phasing out Chinese involvement because of security concerns. But Chinese tech firms remain a big part of the systems in many nations, giving state-controlled companies a global footprint they could exploit for cyberattacks, experts say. Chinese telecom firms still maintain some routing and cloud storage systems in the U.S. — a growing concern to lawmakers. 'The American people deserve to know if Beijing is quietly using state-owned firms to infiltrate our critical infrastructure,' U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich. and chairman of the China committee, which in April issued subpoenas to Chinese telecom companies seeking information about their U.S. operations. Mobile devices can buy stocks, launch drones and run power plants. Their proliferation has often outpaced their security. The phones of top government officials are especially valuable, containing sensitive government information, passwords and an insider's glimpse into policy discussions and decision-making. The White House said last week that someone impersonating Susie Wiles, Trump's chief of staff, reached out to governors, senators and business leaders with texts and phone calls. It's unclear how the person obtained Wiles' connections, but they apparently gained access to the contacts in her personal cellphone, The Wall Street Journal reported. The messages and calls were not coming from Wiles' number, the newspaper reported. While most smartphones and tablets come with robust security, apps and connected devices often lack these protections or the regular software updates needed to stay ahead of new threats. That makes every fitness tracker, baby monitor or smart appliance another potential foothold for hackers looking to penetrate networks, retrieve information or infect systems with malware. Federal officials launched a program this year creating a 'cyber trust mark' for connected devices that meet federal security standards. But consumers and officials shouldn't lower their guard, said Snehal Antani, former chief technology officer for the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command. 'They're finding backdoors in Barbie dolls,' said Antani, now CEO of a cybersecurity firm, referring to concerns from researchers who successfully hacked the microphone of a digitally connected version of the toy. It doesn't matter how secure a mobile device is if the user doesn't follow basic security precautions, especially if their device contains classified or sensitive information, experts say. Mike Waltz, who departed as Trump's national security adviser, inadvertently added The Atlantic's editor-in-chief to a Signal chat used to discuss military plans with other top officials. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon's security protocols set up in his office so he could use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, the AP has reported. Hegseth has rejected assertions that he shared classified information on Signal, a popular encrypted messaging app not approved for the use of communicating classified information. China and other nations will try to take advantage of such lapses, and national security officials must take steps to prevent them from recurring, said Michael Williams, a national security expert at Syracuse University. 'They all have access to a variety of secure communications platforms,' Williams said. "We just can't share things willy-nilly.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Yomiuri Shimbun
19 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
13 Japanese Detained By Malaysian Authorities Over Fraud; Accused of Impersonating Japan Police to Fool Victims
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo Buildings used as bases by fraudsters are seen in eastern Myanmar in January. BANGKOK — Thirteen Japanese nationals were detained in May by Malaysian police during raids on two facilities operated by fraudsters in Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. According to Malaysian police, a total of 19 suspects, including Japanese and Chinese nationals, were detained in the raids. The suspects allegedly pretended to be officers with the Osaka prefectural police, sending online messages to targets in Japan and getting them to transfer cash. They are believed to have used this method and other similar scams for about two months. Many personal computers and mobile phones were found in the raids, local police said, as were clothes resembling the uniforms of Japanese police officers and script-like documents. There has been a series of cases in Southeast Asia in which Japanese and other foreign nationals have been detained by local police during raids on bases for fraudsters. In eastern Myanmar bordering Thailand, a large number of foreigners, including Japanese, were found to have participated in scams. In Poipet in northwestern Cambodia, 29 Japanese were detained late last month.
Yomiuri Shimbun
21 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
US Troops Make First Detentions in Trump Border Military Zones
Reuters file photo A Texas National Guard soldier stands near the wall on the border between Mexico and U.S. during a sandstorm, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March 6, 2025. June 8 (Reuters) – U.S. troops have made their first detentions inside military areas set up on the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, the U.S. Army said. The unprecedented military areas along 260 miles (418 km) of border in New Mexico and Texas were declared extensions of U.S. Army bases by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, allowing troops to temporarily detain migrants and other civilian trespassers. Three 'illegal aliens' were detained by troops in the New Mexico area near Santa Teresa on June 3, before being handed to U.S. Border Patrol, Army spokesperson Major Geoffrey Carmichael said in an email. 'This marks the first time Department of Defense personnel have recorded a temporary detainment within either National Defense Area,' Carmichael said. U.S. presidents have long used active-duty and reservist troops on the international boundary in support roles to U.S. Border Patrol such as surveillance and construction. President Donald Trump took military use a step further by giving troops the right to hold trespassers they catch in the zones until civilian law enforcement assumes custody. Federal troops can also search people and conduct crowd control measures within the areas, according to the Army. Designation of the zones as military bases allowed troops to detain migrants without the need for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. The 1807 law lets a U.S. president deploy federal troops domestically to suppress events like civil disorder. Prosecution of dozens of migrants caught in the zones has faced setbacks in court after judges in New Mexico and Texas dismissed trespassing charges, and acquitted a Peruvian woman, ruling they did not know they were entering restricted areas. The primary role of troops in the zones is to detect and track illegal border crossers, with around 390 such detections so far, the Army said. News of the detentions inside military areas came as Trump deployed state-based National Guard troops to Los Angeles during protests over immigration raids.
