Chinese Spies Use Fake Facebook Pages to Gain Intel

[Don Jaguar]

We’re always hearing about high-end cyber epionage but sometimes, enemy spies can steal military secrets without investing a ton of time or money breaking into Pentagon networks. In fact, Chinese spies just used a fake Fasebook account to get personal information from a ton of NATO officials. Yup, Chinese spies set up a face Facebook page for Adm. James Stavridis, chief of U.S. European Command and fooled a bunch of high-ranking military officials into friending the fake admiral and sharing info with them.

This is a pretty common move, just a couple of weeks ago I had a conversation with a senior military officer who said that he and his staff had found a fake Facebook profile for him.

From ZDNet:

Late last year, senior British military officers, Defense Ministry officials, and other government officials were tricked into becoming Facebook friends with someone masquerading as United States Navy admiral James Stavridis. By doing so, they exposed their own personal information (such as private e-mail addresses, phone numbers, pictures, the names of family members, and possibly even the details of their movements), to unknown spies.

If you feel like the name is familiar, it should be. Stavridis happens to be the current Commander, U.S. European Command (USEUCOM), and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). It’s really no coincidence he was chosen as the one to fake a Facebook profile of.

Stavridis uses Facebook quite a bit. For example, in October 2011 he used his Facebook account to tell the world of his intent to end the organization’s mission in Libya.

NATO officials are reluctant to publicly state who was behind the attack, but The Telegraph says China is to blame. The publication quotes classified briefings in which military officers and diplomats were told the evidence pointed to “state-sponsored individuals in China.” The Guardian agrees, quoting a security source who says “the belief is that China is behind this.”​

http://defensetech.org/2012/03/12/chinese-spies-use-fake-facebook-pages-to-gain-intel/

Good job China, this was very smart

 

[Don Jaguar]

No one interested here?

 

[Sugarcane]

Hahaha........... I didn't know that these yankees are that much dumb

 

[El Weirdo]

I read some intelligent posts from you.. but making this generalization is a fools act mate.. Americans aint no dumb... they still pretty much rule more than half of the world.. not to mention technological and military advancement!!! so I urge you to edit ur post.

 

[Sugarcane]

I read some intelligent posts from you.. but making this generalization is a fools act mate.. Americans aint no dumb... they still pretty much rule more than half of the world.. not to mention technological and military advancement!!! so I urge you to edit ur post.

You are a funny guy

PS: That's the most civilized words for these yankee officers

 

[Armstrong]

No one can beat the Chinese in ingenuity !

 

[Prometheus]

 

[ZABASHO]

No one can beat the Chinese in ingenuity !

chinese.......ingenuinity.....seriously!!?? havent seen a copy LV, D&G, Hermes, Rolex lately??

But OT and on a serious note, smart tactics used by the Chinese there but equally surprised that American armymen would do such a blunder. Dont they have protocols for communicating defense secrets?

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

anyone --especially those in uniform --would have to be naiive and incredibly STUPID to even disclose much information on sites such as facebook

as far as cyber-espionage is concerned, the PRC is extremely active. I'd hope we learn a thing or two from them. They have some people who are good. And by good, i mean they are really good.


forget fake facebook accounts.....look at things like the Stuxnet worm. That is true cyber-espionage (cum-sabotage)

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

chinese.......ingenuinity.....seriously!!?? havent seen a copy LV, D&G, Hermes, Rolex lately??

But OT and on a serious note, smart tactics used by the Chinese there but equally surprised that American armymen would do such a blunder. Dont they have protocols for communicating defense secrets?

they're not copies, just grey-market surplus. why waste perfectly good things?

one Chinese company produces more intellectual property than all of India in a decade.

 

[Shardul.....the lion]

Good spy network is as important as fancy toys of armed forces. So kudos to China if they have succesfully penetrated washington. India needs to learn, we might be good at regular routine human spying but we should develop ourselves in cyberspying space also.

 

[Vassnti]

At least the russians used better bait.

 

[Developereo]

Even leaving aside this particular use, facebook is a goldmine for identity thieves. That whole timeline concept is a wet dream come true for these criminals.

 

[ZABASHO]

they're not copies, just grey-market surplus. why waste perfectly good things?

one Chinese company produces more intellectual property than all of India in a decade.

first of all relax, it was a joke. and I called them what they are, you can give any name you want to twist things up

And secondly ha... good 1