Marc Hofer

We talked with Dr. Valentin Weber about his research on secure messenger services inside the PLA, their flaws and limitation and how a system obsessed with surveillance, even compromises on security to keep tabs on what their soldiers talk about: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

What's in the box !? NetAskari got access to a little "toolbox" of a Chinese red-team/pen-tester. Let's explore.

Chinese pen-testers know about the Chinese eco system as much as they know about western tools and techniques. While western researchers often never step inside the Chinese world of red-teams: tinyurl.com/48z9etwk

See how Chinese red-team / pen-testers see China's e-government infrastructure and witness how they assess security flaws in the govt run service infrastructure ( has diagrams and pictures ) : tinyurl.com/ynp4ahzk

Read the full report here 9/9: netaskari.substack.com/p/chinas-gua...

5. Provide granular access control to specific files, for user-device combos, based on daily use and launching alerts if those rules are broken. Even enabling automated shutdown of client system if rule breaking is detected. 8/9

4. Monitor http, ftp and smtp traffic from a client to see for example if the user logs into web email systems ( and stores login to those systems ) or if otherwise trying to get files "off device". 7/9

3. Provide an enumeration and overview of confidential files found on a client machine plus the ability to remotely delete them by an administrator or supervisor. 6/9

2. Scan content on a client along a combination of list-fed and hardcoded keywords, especially text based documents ( docx, pdf, http, txt, md, xlsx etc. ) 5/9

1. Kill processes that might jeopardize or bypass the tool's ability to oversee the data integrity of a client system. 4/9

It was build by the well known Chinese cyber security government SuperRed but relies heavily on open source technology to provide its core functionality. 3/9

Designed mainly for WinXP and Win7, it lodges itself rather deep inside the system to have full file system access, controls hardware/USB devices, dynamic content analysis and enumeration, provides network traffic proxies and enables remote control and granular file behavior. 2/9

We got our hand on a Chinese DLP program the government and national security agencies use to monitor state employees computers for leakage and usage of confidential documents. Meet 保密管理系统. 1/9

Why do so little internal documents leak from China, compared to its sizable digital administrative infrastructure ? NetAskari got their hands on an internal document monitoring and control software for government workstations: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

As the year is coming to an end, here are our picks of the five best stories on netaskari.online . If you have some time over the holidays, please check them out: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

An example of an HikVision powered neighborhood surveillance and access-control system, that you can find all across China's cities. In the past often stand-alone, they are increasingly getting integrated into the nation wide "Sharp eyes" ( 雪亮 ) project.

Read our primer on how the big-data analysis system operated by the Chinese police can track people across country, via having almost real time access to their means of travel, bank account activities, phone calls and online activity. netaskari.substack.com/p/smart-poli...

Critical strike: China's hacking training grounds (PART 2) A deep dive into the technical elements of the "Expedition Cloud" Cyber Range designed for the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

Welcome to PART 2 of NetAskari’s analysis of “Expedition Cloud”, a Cyber Range operated by the Ministry of Public Security of China to improve their offensive cyber capabilities : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

China’s hacking training grounds, gunning or foreign nations’ critical infrastructure: tinyurl.com/y67z79ve

Critical strike: China's hacking training grounds (PART 1) Exclusive internal design documents reveal details of China's digital training grounds, set up to attack critical infrastructure of its "major adversaries".

Internal documents from a Chinese cyber security company reveal how the Ministry of Public Security is commissioning “cyber ranges” to explore attack methods against adversaries digital critical infrastructure: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

Episode 4: State of surveillance - Made in America An AP investigation reveals deep links of US big tech companies and the Chinese digital surveillance machine.

China created its digital surveillance state with the eager help of US’s BigTech, Dake Kang reports: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

KnownSec breach: What we know so far. After the initial buzz around the data leak from Chinese cybersecurity firm KnownSec, a few more details have since emerged. Here is our take.

More comprehensive take on the KnownSec data leak: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

Breaking: KnownSec - Databreach One of China's most prolific developers of digital forensic tools for the Chinese security services and provider of "cyber weapons" might have undergone a major data leak.

Some first thoughts on the KnownSec databreach : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

DNS4CN: A Truly Locked-Down DNS for China China still relies heavily on the global DNS resolution system, creating a lot of headaches for the censors and puts extra strain on the Great Firewall of China. A new system design changes that.

A new comcept for a locked down DNS for China, will strengthen the country’s digital censorship: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

Free VPNs: Security flaws, hidden owners and potential links to the PLA. Free VPNs are mushrooming in App-Stores. But they come often with a whole rat tail of problems and hidden "features".

We interviewed Benjamin Mixon-Baca on his reaearch on Free VPNs, who is behind them and their links to Chinese cyber security companies and ex-PLA members. substack.com/@netaskari/n...

Big Data = Big Surveillance China’s ability to conduct digital surveillance on their population is not particularly new, but connecting those tools to big-data raises their potency.

A patent shows how China’s security services keep tabs on citizens mobile devices combining WiFi-probes and big-data collusion : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

Episode 2: The Locknet How China controls the internet and why it matters: Join Jessica Batke and Laura Edelson talking to us about their recent report.

Episode 2 of NetAskari’s podcast just dropped : The Locknet - substack.com/home/post/p-...

The FBI is weighing an arrest and perp walk for Comey — and suspended an agent for refusing to help, sources say The FBI is considering carrying out a "showy" arrest and perp walk of the agency's now-indicted ex-Director James Comey, sources tell CBS News.

“The source told CBS News that [Kash Patel and Dan Bongino] asked for "large, beefy" agents to conduct an arrest of Comey "in full kit," including Kevlar vests and exterior wear emblazoned with the FBI logo.” The leadership of the FBI is now in the hands of infantile psychopaths.

Xinjiang 912: The evolution of the Great Firewall forged in one of the world’s most surveilled and controlled regions. open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

We took a stroll among the less sexy “study” documents of MESA Lab but still found some interesting little nuggets on the future of China’s cyber strategy and developments : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...

U.S. government scrambles to stop new hacking campaign blamed on China U.S. cybersecurity officials ordered civilian federal agencies to check for vulnerable Cisco equipment being exploited by attackers targeting the government.

Federal agencies are racing to contain a new wave of sophisticated hacking by suspected Chinese attackers that took advantage of previously undiscovered flaws in widely used security software from networking company Cisco.