Chinese company Rafotech believed to be behind millions of malware infections
According to extensive research from the Israeli cyber-security firm Check Point, a Chinese digital marketing company called Rafotech has infected millions of computers worldwide with adware that redirects user traffic to fake search engines.
The fake search engines then divert their search queries through Google and Yahoo's affiliate programs to earn a commission for the company behind the adware. So far Rafotech has infected over 250 million computers according to a rough estimation from Check Point.
China's QR codes changing the way young people perceive money
QR codes are "changing social behavior" in China, according to a new story published on the South China Morning Post. As a payment technology, QR codes are going through a renaissance in mainland China, where mobile payments are now 50 times greater than those in the US.
Mobile payments in the States have reached $112 billion last year, the report states, calling on a Forrester Research report.
Windows 10 China Government Edition allows China to control encryption and telemetry
Microsoft's event in Shanghai today may have been mainly about the Surface Pro, but there was also news of a new version of Windows 10. The new version -- which we reported about a couple of months ago -- is called Windows 10 China Government Edition and it makes a number of concessions to keep Chinese officials happy.
It’s a release that raises a lot of questions. The Windows 10 China Government Edition allows the country to not only use its own encryption, but also to control updates, remove unwanted apps, and manage telemetry. Users around the world will almost certainly be asking why control over telemetry is not an option for them, and what the implications of making changes for the Chinese government could be.
APT3 hacking collective has ties to Chinese government
Cybersecurity experts from Recorded Future think the cybercrime group we know as APT3 is on the Chinese Ministry of State Security’s payroll.
It bases its conclusions on the work of "intrusiontruth," a group claiming to have investigated some of the most important APT actors. Analyzing APT3’s C&C infrastructure, it came across two names, Wu Yingzhuo and Dong Hao, who allegedly registered many of the domains that the threat actors had used.
Microsoft completes modified version of Windows 10 for Chinese government
Microsoft could be on the verge of making greater headway in China after completing a modified version of Windows 10 for the Chinese government. The operating system has been banned for governmental use for some time despite the fact it is already available to consumers in the country.
A joint venture with state-owned China Electronics Technology Group, Microsoft's modifications are now awaiting government approval. While details of the included changes are not being released, China's concerns about other nations implementing surveillance through the software will almost certainly have been a key factor.
Officials say it's time for the Great Firewall of China to ease up on censorship
The Great Firewall of China is famed for the restrictions it places on what Chinese citizens can access online. If a site provides access to news from the west, conflicts with state propaganda, or criticizes China or its ruling Communist party in any way, it is blocked. But some officials are now suggesting that it's time things changed.
The impetus is not a sudden softening of the political agenda, but a suggestion from the leading advisory body the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference that censorship is damaging China's progress in terms of the economy and science.
Hidden backdoor discovered in Chinese IoT devices
Researchers at Trustwave have uncovered a backdoor in IoT devices from a Chinese manufacturer that could leave them open to exploitation.
The backdoor is present in almost all devices produced by VoIP specialist DBLTek, and appears to have been purposely built in for use by the vendor.
China blocks VPNs, making Great Firewall circumvention harder
The Great Firewall of China is a famously totalitarian measure taken by the Chinese government to control what its citizens are able to see and do online. As with any such blockade, where there's a will there's a way, and people have long turned to VPNs to get around the firewall. But with a new 14-month crackdown on the use of such tools, the situation just got a little trickier.
While on the face of it the announcement from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China seems like a new one, it is really just a drive to more strictly enforce existing legislation. The Chinese government is clamping down on the unauthorized use of VPNs in a move that will be seen by the outside world as a prime example of the country's dictatorial control and censorship of the Internet.
Chinese citizens can be tracked in real time
A group of researchers have revealed that the Chinese government is collecting data on its citizens to an extent where their movements can even be tracked in real-time using their mobile devices.
This discovery was made by The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs who specialize in studying the ways in which information technology affects both personal and human rights worldwide.
Cold War 2.0: Russia is borrowing the Great Firewall of China to implement greater state censorship and control
The Great Firewall of China is a famous tool of censorship and state control of the internet -- and Russia wants to throw up its own version of the web filtering system. Russia already operates the so-called 'red web' which is used to not only monitor what Russian citizens are up to online, but also implementing blocks and filters such as the recent ban on LinkedIn.
But now President Putin wants to step things up a notch. Russia and China have become close allies in recent years, particularly in the field of state control of the internet, and there are plans to roll out even greater controls over what web users are able to do and access online, ostensibly from fears of an uprising against the government.
China's new cybersecurity law makes things harder for foreign businesses
A new cybersecurity law has been passed in China which will give the country even more control over the Internet and will require foreign companies to store their data locally.
The National People's Congress Standing Committee passed the new law on Monday, causing a great deal of concern amongst human rights groups and foreign businesses. China already limits access to the Internet through its own online security system known in the west as "the Great Firewall" but this new cybersecurity law will allow the country to further censor and control the internet.
How Western businesses should manage their websites in China
The idea that the Chinese market is emerging is an idea that firmly belongs in the past -- while online gaming is worth $22 billion, the construction market is worth a staggering $2 trillion. Cross-border ecommerce sales -- consumers from China buying goods from outside China -- is expected to reach just under a trillion US dollars in 2016. Outbound tourists from China reached 120 million in 2015, and they spent $104.5 billion around the globe.
Internet usage and access in China is growing, despite the restrictions in connectivity the region faces. Even though the Great Firewall of China can block certain types of content completely, making websites inaccessible and cause long load times, according to China Internet Watch there were 667 million internet users spending around 25 hours a week online in 2015 -- and this is only set to grow further. Combine these trends -- the necessity of digital commerce and the rise of China as a viable target market -- and then suddenly Western businesses need to carefully scrutinize how their brand presents online.
The iPhone 7 won't sell well in China, IDC predicts
The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus feature some pretty big improvements over the previous generation, but some folks are not convinced whether it is worth upgrading from an older iPhone or an Android smartphone. The main problem is the removal of the headphone jack, though it seems that the lack of enough (visual) differentiating features compared to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus also play a part in this.
The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus may end up breaking sales records, but we will not find out until later this year. However, IDC already predicts that Apple's flagships will underperform in the world's largest market -- China. And there is some logic behind that.
China wants to monitor and control all live streams in real time
China's overarching control of the internet, technology, and its people in general is nothing new. The Great Firewall of China is famous for placing huge restrictions on what citizens are able to access online, and recently the government banned the use of social media as a news source.
The latest target for the Chinese government is the increasingly popular activity of live streaming. The proposal includes a requirement for all live streamed content to be monitored around the clock.
Xiaomi's smartphone shipments take a big hit in China
Once believed to be one of the strongest players in the smartphone market, Chinese maker Xiaomi now finds itself in a vulnerable position in its home market after its shipments dropped by nearly 40 percent in Q2 2016, according to a new report by IDC.
In the second quarter of the year, Xiaomi shipped just 10.5 million smartphones, 38.4 percent fewer units than in Q2 2015 when it moved 17.1 million devices. A year ago, it held the top spot in China, but now the company has to settle for fourth place, behind Huawei, Oppo and Vivo.
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