This is your US-China CyberPulse: Defense Updates podcast.
Hey listeners, Ting here, and wow, what a wild week in the cyber trenches between Washington and Beijing. Let's dive right in because things are heating up fast.
So this week kicked off with the US Department of Commerce dropping the hammer on October 8th, adding sixteen Chinese mainland companies to its export control entity list. China's Ministry of Commerce fired back immediately, calling it an abuse of export controls and long-arm jurisdiction. But here's the kicker: according to the Federal Register, five of those companies were blacklisted because Israeli Defense Forces recovered weaponized drones from Hamas militants after October 7th, 2023, and guess what they found inside? US-origin electronic components that these Chinese firms allegedly procured. Ten more companies got hit for supplying parts found in Houthi drone debris collected since 2017. We're talking firms like Shanghai Bitconn Electronics and Beijing Plenary Technology essentially arming Iranian proxies through the supply chain backdoor.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon just rolled out something major: the Cybersecurity Risk Management Construct, or CSRMC. This framework is replacing the old Risk Management Framework with something way more aggressive, emphasizing automation, continuous monitoring, and real-time visibility. Think of it as shifting from periodic check-ups to having a fitness tracker that never stops watching. Defense contractors better pay attention because this signals they'll need to provide real-time monitoring data moving forward.
But here's where it gets messier. The US government shutdown that started October 1st has absolutely gutted our cyber defenses. CISA furloughed two-thirds of its workforce, leaving under 900 people to handle a surge in attacks. Even worse, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act expired on October 1st, removing legal protections that let companies share threat data with the government. So right when we need coordination most, we're flying blind.
On the flip side, China's playing hardball too. Beijing just blacklisted nearly a dozen US defense companies on October 9th, including drone specialists like Dedrone by Axon and Epirus, plus firms working with Taiwan like AeroVironment. They also went after TechInsights, a Canadian analytics firm that embarrassingly revealed Huawei's Ascend 910C chips contain components from TSMC, Samsung, and SK Hynix, so much for domestic self-reliance. China's Ministry of Commerce slapped TechInsights on their unreliable entity list, effectively barring any Chinese business dealings.
The Senate passed the GAIN AI Act as part of the National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday, giving US firms priority access to advanced chips. Nvidia's caught in the middle, calling it self-defeating policy, while China simultaneously tightened customs checks on Nvidia GPU imports.
Bottom line, listeners: we're watching supply chains weaponized in real-time, with both sides treating semiconductors and components like strategic ammunition. The next few weeks will be critical as these policies actually take effect.
Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to subscribe to stay on top of this cyber chess match. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
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