China Asks Banks to Remove US-Made Servers
BRICS, 2 Jun 2014
Press TV – TRANSCEND Media Service
The Chinese government is asking domestic banks to remove their US-made IBM servers amid cyber-espionage concerns and replace them with a local brand.
The People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance are among government agencies that are reviewing the matter.
Their goal is to examine whether Chinese commercial banks’ reliance on the IBM (International Business Machines Corp) servers compromises the country’s financial security, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The news comes as Beijing and Washington have leveled accusations of cyber-espionage against each other, with China saying Washington’s cyber surveillance against its highest levels of leadership and sensitive national institutions is “unscrupulous.”
The accusation, which came in the form of a Chinese government report on Monday, comes a week after US prosecutors charged five Chinese military officers with hacking into American companies to steal trade secrets.
The report by China’s Internet Media Research Center, a government agency, called on the US to halt its cyber-spying, saying that a months-long investigation into reports on the “ugly face” of US espionage has concluded that China is a major target of those efforts.
The report which was published Monday and cited Tuesday by the official Xinhua News Agency, also mentioned the US government’s widespread spying programs revealed by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.
The US has long accused China of spying on customers using Chinese routers and other Internet devices. However, a leaked NSA document shows Washington has been conducting the same kind of spying activity it accused Beijing of being engaged in.
Earlier in May, a secret 2010 report in Glenn Greenwald’s new book ‘No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State’ revealed that NSA has been secretly intercepting US Internet servers heading overseas in an attempt to spy on all data transactions of targeted customers.
AN/ISH
DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.