US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper recently said at the meeting of all military personnel that the US military should take cyber security measures and strengthen information security protection to prevent military secrets from being leaked when telecommuting, according to reports on the website of US Military Times. Esper's statement sounds like covering up their own misdeeds by shifting the blame to others. For now, the US is undoubtedly the lead surveillance authority on the issue of cyber security in the world.
Large-scale surveillance has become a normal.
The PRISM incident exposed in June 2013 profoundly exposed the double standards implemented by the US in cyberspace. On the one hand, the US conducts large-scale surveillance on other countries in the pretext of anti-terrorism and national security. On the other hand, the US publicly boasts and promotes "Internet freedom" and continuously strengthens its leading role in the cyber world.
It is reported that the US National Security Agency (NSA) implemented surveillance on 122 foreign leaders as early as 2009, and established a special database to hoard information on foreign leaders, including 300 reports on German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Besides, ordinary people are also the main subject of surveillance in the US. It has a vast project on Internet monitoring. "The US can monitor almost all Internet activities of a targeted netizen," according to the report.
US President Trump released the National Cyber Strategy in September, 2018. It means that the US will be more proactive on cyber security issues followed by more frequent cyber monitoring and hacking.
Diversified organizations and means emerged.
As cyberspace became an important battlefield, agencies such as the NSA have also expanded its coverage from traditional signal intelligence to cyberspace data. The US weaved a "global surveillance network" by a variety of organizations and means.
In terms of organization, with the NSA as the main agency, the Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO), Special Source Operations (SSO) and Global Access Operations (GAO) are the three enforcement departments to jointly monitor the global network. Among them, the TAO is usually responsible for developing cyber attack technology, carrying out cyber attacks and accessing foreign computers for cyber-espionage activities; the SSO mainly for collecting, processing and analyzing Internet metadata; and, the GAO for intercepting intelligence from satellites and other international intelligence platforms.
In terms of means, the US has taken advantage of technology to steal information by means of radio eavesdropping, satellite surveillance, password decryption, and cyber attacks. Also, the US has continuously raised the status of cyberspace in the overall national security strategy by increasing investment in capital, human and technical resources, and conducted network monitoring in the name of maintaining cyber security.
Cooperation against cyber hegemony is urgently needed.
On the one hand, the US keeps stealing information, and on the other hand, it is concerned that military secrets might be leaked during telecommuting. On March 26, Reuters reported that CIA hackers had conducted 11 years of cyber-attacks and infiltrations on China. In this regard, all countries should take strict precautions, strengthen international cooperation on cyber security, promote the establishment of a multilateral democratic and transparent international Internet governance system, as well as a common network security information communication and governance channel, and formulate universally abiding international rules so as to eliminate the ground for cyber hegemony.
