US probes whether laptop copied on China trip
May 29th, 2008 . by TexasFredWASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese officials secretly copied the contents of a government laptop computer during a visit to China by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and used the information to try to hack into Commerce computers, officials and industry experts told The Associated Press.
Surreptitious copying is believed to have occurred when a laptop was left unattended during Gutierrez’s trip to Beijing for trade talks in December, people familiar with the incident told the AP. These people spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was under investigation.
Gutierrez told the AP on Thursday he could not discuss whether or how the laptop’s contents might have been copied.
“Because there is an investigation going on, I would rather not comment on that,” he said. “To the extent that there is an investigation going on, those are the things being looked at, those are the questions being asked. I don’t think I should provide any speculative answers.”
No one said you had to smart to work in the Bush administration, I guess this kinda/sorta makes that apparent huh??
This would be funny if it weren’t potentially so serious, I have no national secrets on my computer, I don’t even keep banking info on mine, for all the obvious reasons, somehow I don’t think this guy got the memo, ‘Never let it out of your sight’…
A Commerce Department spokesman, Rich Mills, said he could not confirm or deny such an incident in China. Asked whether the department has issued new rules for carrying computers overseas, Mills said: “The department is continuing to improve our security posture, and that includes providing updates, guidances and best practices to staff to maintain security.”
A rough translation of that would be: ‘We got caught with our pants down and we’re looking into it and are still trying to ascertain who we can point a finger at, blame will be assigned and we’ll call a press conference when we have someone to behead for you…’
It was not immediately clear what information on the laptop might have been compromised, but it would be highly unorthodox for any U.S. government official to carry classified data on a laptop overseas to China, especially one left unattended even briefly. Modern copying equipment can duplicate a laptop’s storage drive in just minutes.
I would love to believe that this was a setup, do you remember the Spy vs Spy routine from Mad Magazine?? It would be hilarious if this computer had been loaded with viruses or porn, stuff that would drive the Chinese absolutely crazy, but I seriously doubt if anyone in the Bush administration ever thought of doing something like that, after all, the Chinese are Bush’s buddies, and you just don’t do things like that to a trusted trading partner, it wouldn’t be PC…
Full Story Here:
US probes whether laptop copied on China trip
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