GCHQ boss warns China can rewrite 'the global operating system' in its own authoritarian image
- Reference: 1619420292
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/04/26/jeremy_fleming_gchq_china_warning/
- Source link:
GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming on Friday delivered the 2021 Vincent Briscoe Lecture for the Institute for Security, Science and Technology, and [1]opened with an observation that humans love to connect to each other, that digital connectivity continues to become more pervasive and important, and that Britain is “a big animal in the digital world.”
Fleming said the UK evolved into that status thanks to the Internet being largely a creation of the West.
China’s size and technological weight means that it has the potential to control the global operating system
“It was a virtuous circle: government and private sector investment identified new markets and fuelled new research. Shared values among involved nations meant industry standards for emerging technologies tended to be global,” he said. “This in turn encouraged free-trade and international dialogue. Those countries at the forefront gained wealth and status. This enabled national security, improved the lot of citizens, and drew in funding for the next wave of investment.”
But he next warned: “We can see that significant technology leadership is moving East. It’s causing a conflict of interests. Of values. Where prosperity and security are at stake.”
Spy agency GCHQ told me Gmail's more secure than Microsoft 365, insists British MP as facepalming security bods tell him to zip it [2]READ MORE
Fleming named Russia and China as the main threats and revised an analogy he’s previously used that asserted “Russia is affecting the weather, whilst China is shaping the climate.
“That remains the case. But when it comes to technology, I’ll use another analogy.
“The threat posed by Russia’s activity is like finding a vulnerability on a specific app on your phone – it’s potentially serious, but you can probably use an alternative. However, the concern is that China’s size and technological weight means that it has the potential to control the global operating system.”
[3]
States like China, he said, are readying to implement emerging technologies, and “have a competing vision for the future of cyberspace and are playing strongly into the debate around international rules and standards.
“And states that do not share our values build their own illiberal values into the standards and technology upon which we may become reliant. If that happens, and it turns out to be insecure or broken or undemocratic, everyone is going to be facing a very difficult future.”
Digital currencies could be used to enable significant intrusions into the lives of citizens
Fleming highlighted “concerted campaigns to dominate international Standards developing organisations” as one area of concern, and called out smart city standards as creating risks “that we will import technology which hardwires data collection in ways that go against the interests and values of open, democratic societies.
“Digital currencies are another example. Their introduction by some governments hold significant promise to revolutionise the finance sector, making it more resilient, innovative and competitive. But designed without liberal values, they could be used to enable significant intrusions into the lives of citizens and companies in those countries, and those they do business with globally.”
The world therefore faces what Fleming described as “a moment of reckoning” in which the UK and its allies need to assert their values and ensure that technology ecosystems reflect their values.
[4]
For the UK that means ensuring “a very small percentage of key technologies must be truly sovereign to retain strategic technical advantage – things like elements of the cryptographic technologies that protect the UK’s most sensitive information and capabilities.” Investing in such capabilities and “using statutory powers to restrict hostile foreign investment” will be needed.
Russia’s activity is like finding a vulnerability in an app – potentially serious, but you can use an alternative
For less-sensitive technologies, Fleming said the UK has “national and economic security interests to incentivise diversity of supply,” and should work to ensure local firms are part of the R&D efforts and supply chains.
Fleming suggested the UK’s current policy settings are decent and have delivered many successes, yet the nation must continue to provide incentives for talented people to pursue careers in tech and collaborate with like-minded nations.
And he suggested that GCHQ can help to make that happen.
[5]
“Our unique insight and expertise means we have the potential to help the country beyond our traditional intelligence, security and cyber roles. That we have a responsibility to help pioneer a new approach to this ever more complex threat,” he said. ®
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[1] https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/directors-2021-vincent-brisoe-lecture
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/14/tom_tugendhat_email_security_outburst/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YIaPPUUcotajLkw7UPqh7QAAAJA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YIaPPUUcotajLkw7UPqh7QAAAJA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YIaPPUUcotajLkw7UPqh7QAAAJA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Russia is affecting the weather
Great to see GCHQ is all over this 'Beast from the East' issue we've been having each winter lately. Sooner that's solved the better.
I'm not even going to bother commenting on the hypocrisy.
Global operating system
So does he consider the global operating system Windows or Linux? Discuss here without invective or religious fervour.
Re: Global operating system
Neither. The global operating system is Stupidity, if past evidence is anything to go by.
Re: Global operating system
>So does he consider the global operating system Windows or Linux?
Taking the obvious corollary being made, it doesn't really matter, effectively we have a duopoly in computer OS's. In this situation, it does become possible and given the discussions about MS and Linux also it becomes desirable in some quarters, to control those OS's,
tl;dr: We want obligatory BritCrypto™
For the UK that means ensuring “a very small percentage of key technologies must be truly sovereign to retain strategic technical advantage – things like elements of the cryptographic technologies that protect the UK’s most sensitive information and capabilities.” Investing in such capabilities and “using statutory powers to restrict hostile foreign investment” will be needed.
No back doors but a wide open front door.
lf they really wanted sovereign technologies perhaps they should have advised the government not to flog off the ARM family silver.
The irony of it all
A government mandarin complaining about Chinese control.
I note that the parties he most wishes to protect are, once again not the people that are the nation but business and institutions.
He then goes on to speak of sovereign control of cryptography and security to protect open and democratic society but would quite appreciate having back doors that 'only' the sovereign powers can access.
Obvious irony aside...
He's right that China is accelerating faster than we are. I live in central Reading (UK home of Oracle, Microsoft etc) and the best OpenReach speed I can get is 22MBps. No FTTP. That's laughable in the East. Infrastructure needs to be powered by government policy and if there isn't an appetite for sorting out the basics then it's fair to assume that the more nuanced ideas of security and privacy won't either.
Deluded....or What?
What mystical universe is Jeremy Fleming living in?
Quote #1: "...technology which hardwires data collection in ways that go against the interests and values of open, democratic societies...."
Oh.....I suppose Jeremy Fleming has never heard of Edward Snowden!!
Quote #2: "...the UK’s current policy settings are decent..."
Relevant link: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/21/british-spies-hacked-into-belgacom-on-ministers-orders-claims-report
Brief translation...
Bigger budget please. The rest of the crap spouted made me laugh though.
potential to control the global operating system
of course it's allright when WE control the global operating system, because it benefits US, never mind the rest of the world, whey don't they rejoice for sharing scraps, eh? Whereas when THEY want to control the GOS it's a threat! menace! danger! erosion! collapse! cats being microwaved on low power! We-control - goood. They-control baaad!
p.s. in the long run, our system is gonna 'win', because humans are a lazy, unorganized bunch, and if you try to re-form them to become hard-working and organized, this is not not gonna last. Unless TECHNOLOGY ;)
China without Xi, Russian without Putin
You can see that neither Xi nor Putin represent the "hive mind" of their people they claim to represent. If they did they wouldn't need the "authoritarian" part to control those people!
Putin has clearly never won an election since 2012 and possibly earlier. Xi and the Chinese communist party stopped pretending to even hold elections. Xi simply being appointed for life.
So, instead of this negative spiral you've helped the UK go into, instead of lumping together groups by how the dictator *wants* you to lump them together, how about you lead a positive upward spiral instead?
Secure end to end encrypted communications. A country free from mass surveillance. Freedom to protest, no more secret police intelligence unit, no more ACPO, NDEU, NPOIU and their ilk outside the scope of democratic control and FOI requests. Help the people of China and Russia communicate in secure free ways, give them a beacon to aspire to, not a negative label to overcome.
Also I disagree that somehow Russia is the weather and China is the climate. Russia is using a different attack mechanism: funding politicians/judges with dark money to take control. It's *very*successfully* creeping across Europe and the US, and the more you build your 'authoritarian' mechanisms to 'defeat' this threat the more you create the ready-to-go authoritarian control.
Russia is the most imminent threat, and its the major one. Those troops they're massing on Ukraine border, are not theoretical. If Russian invades Ukraine, Georgia should be ready to take back South Ossetia, and Europe should be ready to take control of Karlingsgrad and Transnistria. If he invades Georgia, Ukraine should be ready to take back Crimea, and you don't stop at the borders with Russia. Recognize how serious the threat *Putin* is to Europe, and tackle *Putin*.
Also lets not pretend here, you follow your boss, and if your boss is a Russian operative, you follow Russia. This is about budget, you're not on a mission to protect the UK from threats, your mission is to protect your budgets from being cut. You're not weighing up the threats the UK faces, your leveraging the rhetoric of the day to try to get your next budget increase.
Re: Europe should be ready to take control of Karlingsgrad and Transnistria
but, dear Sir, we, the citizens of Europe, recently detached from the shores of the Great! Nation! of Brits, Welshpersons, Scots, etc - want to live in PEACE. And PROSPERITY. Taking control of K-grad and Transnistria by the super-duper pan-European, hi-tech, (non-existent) new model army is a GREAT plan to further PEACE and PROSPERITY for Europe! Moreover, gaspadin Putin, whose putinocracy is slowly, but surely, crumbling, would love that too! And let the Ukrainians chip in, that would be fun too! And NATO! And Turkey! And Israel! And Saudi Arabia and wakey-wakey Iran's coming, and when we're at it, why not Armenia v. Azerbaijan again, with a bit of Iranian v. Turkish tech to spice it a little. Gimme WAR man, that would solve a a crisis or two :)
MRDA ...... and it's certainly been said and is easily made universally available
How very perceptive of GCHQ leadership/systems administration, however ...... at such " a moment of reckoning " how does one practically effect virtual command for absolute control is the gazillion dollar, money shot question?
Having identified and accepted the why it may be needed to be elitely exclusively exercised, following through with suitable future ACTions is that which is altogether much more taxing for forces and sources engaging in what are most definitely extremely obscure, enigmatic circles pondering on almighty royal and ancient round table type operations.
In the light of [1]an earlier submission to El Reg on Really Good Stuff today and under the glow of GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming's rhetoric as expressed and conveyed in the final three paragraphs of the article being commented on here, and they were refreshingly encouraging, I certainly know what some would be expecting to very quickly happen before everything is strategically lost, and tactical lead is exercised magnificently elsewhere by other able parties both alien and foreign and well beyond an Effective Oppositional Remote ACTive Command and Control, rather than being more comfortably home-grown based and bred and further developed.
[1] https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2021/04/23/tsinghua_university_new_integrated_circuits_school/#c_4245913
He is somewhat correct, but there is a better solution - stop pouring government money into half baked ideas like "smart cities", and the attendant piles of cheap technology crap won't be a problem. I think we have forgotten the value that humans can provide, and are on a mis-guided mission attempting to replace skills and experience with tech.
Who are they addressing?
When it has become clear to everyone that the GCHQ is considering the own population an enemy, then who the fuck are they addressing?
Translation:
Primary problem for Brits and Europeans?
A [ . ] China
B [ . ] GCHQ and similar diseases