On September 22, 2021, Ambassador Qin Gang was invited to attend an online conversation jointly held by The Carter Center and The George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations and delivered a speech. The Ambassador also answered questions from the participants. The Q&A is as follows:

Q1: How to interpret and handle public mutual criticisms and blaming from China and the US?

A: A very important thing between China and the US is mutual respect. China is open and inclusive. We welcome and readily accept various suggestions or criticisms, as long as they are objective, truthful, well-intentioned and constructive, and we will make improvements according to them. As Chinese Ambassador to the US, a very important job of mine is to communicate and listen. However, we do not accept baseless slander and disinformation. We do not accept condescending lecturing. And we do not accept words or deeds that undermine China's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. Citizens must abide by the law. Likewise, countries must abide by the basic norms governing international relations. US law prohibits secession and racial hatred, but why do some Americans want to treat China in this way?

Q2: What is China's reaction to the cooperation between Australia, the UK and the US about nuclear submarines?

A: China has expressed concerns to the US side. Foreign Ministry spokesperson has made it clear. In fact, not only China, but also many other regional countries have stated their concerns and even opposition. The nuclear submarine cooperation between the US, the UK and Australia will intensify arms race, undermine regional peace and stability, and sabotage international nuclear non-proliferation efforts. It is extremely irresponsible. We urge these countries to discard Cold-War zero-sum mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical perception, and not to gang up. Security affairs of the Asia-Pacific should be jointly decided by people in the region, and not be dominated by the Anglo-Saxons. China will closely monitor the developments of the situation.

Q3: What is the role China will play in Asia-Pacific regional economic integration?

A: First, as the world's second biggest economy and the number one trading partner of over 120 countries, especially Asian countries, China has maintained stable economic growth. This is in itself a powerhouse and a source of confidence for the growth of Asian and world economy and trade. China is a strong link in the global supply chain.

Second, China is striving towards common prosperity. It is committed to high-level opening-up. This means it will provide a broader market and greater development opportunities for Asian countries.

Third, China is committed to economic globalization and regional economic integration. We have joined the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), and are applying to join the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership). We will also upgrade FTA arrangements with the Republic of Korea and Singapore, and speed up negotiations of a China-Japan-ROK FTA. These initiatives will inject strong impetus into regional economic integration of the Asia-Pacific, advance integrated development of regional industrial chain, supply chain and value chain, boost trade and investment, and promote development and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific.

Q4: What are the concrete measures that can be taken by the US and China to promote mutual confidence, especially on the resumption of effective cooperation in educational, scientific and technological fields?

A: China-US relations were seriously damaged during the previous US administration. Our educational, technological and people-to-people exchanges also suffered. Some Americans say Chinese students are spies, and Confucius Institutes are engaging in cultural infiltration. Many Chinese students and scholars have been repatriated, denied visas, interrogated, and harassed for no reason. Scientific and technological exchanges between the two sides have almost been cut off. Educational, technological and cultural exchanges serve the interests of both countries. They are critical for our mutual understanding and trust. Since I assumed office, over 10 American universities and educational institutions have written to me, expressing their hope for continued US-China educational exchanges and cooperation. We hope that the Biden administration will turn this around as soon as possible. I noticed that the US side has recently issued visas to 85,000 Chinese students, but still some Chinese students' applications got rejected. We hope that the US side will do more things to lift the iron curtain between our people, and allow our students, scholars, scientists and artists to talk and work together without fear and obstacles. For example, our scientists could cooperate on major infectious diseases and on climate change. China also welcomes American students to study in China.

Not long ago, President Xi Jinping spoke with President Joe Biden on the phone. They had candid, in-depth and strategic communication and exchanges, sending out positive signals. They have agreed to maintain frequent contact by multiple means and instructed officials at the working level to conduct extensive dialogue, tap the potential of cooperation, effectively manage differences so as to avoid conflict and create conditions for the further development of China-US relations. President Xi stressed that the two sides should advance coordination and cooperation on the basis of respecting each other's core concerns and properly managing differences. To be frank, what I worry about is that the US uses competition to define China-US relations, while competition on the US side often takes the form of confrontation, especially on major issues concerning China's core interests. If this does not change, it will undermine China's efforts to promote our mutual trust and cooperation. There isn't any example in the history of international relations where the political relationship between two countries is in competition or even confrontation but other spheres remain safe and sound.

Q5: At present, non-Chinese citizens need to wait several weeks or even months to get their visas to travel to China for emergent humanitarian reasons. Will the embassy re-consider expediting the processing of such visa at the shortest timeline possible in days? Have the US and China begun discussion on reopening the Consulates in Chengdu and Houston?

A: Due to the pandemic, in-person visa application has been replaced by a mail-in process. This has caused inconveniences to the applicants and affected the processing speed. In July last year, the US suddenly and unilaterally demanded China shut down the Consulate General in Houston. This is against the China-US Consular Convention, international law and basic norms governing international relations. It has seriously damaged China-US relations. Visa applications which used to be processed by Chinese Consulate General in Houston have been transferred to the Embassy, so there has been a sharp increase of workload for us, which makes the processing time somehow longer. Our staff at the Embassy will do their best to speed up. We also hope that visa applicants will provide complete and accurate information as required to avoid hiccups and delays.

Facing the abrupt closure of the Consulate General in Houston, the Chinese side had no choice but to reciprocate and close the US Consulate General in Chengdu. Let the person who tied the bell on the tiger take it off. This is something unilaterally started by the US side, and the US side must act first to resolve it.

Q6: Over the next decades, global issues where the United States and China must work together (global warming, nuclear proliferation, limits on cyber-warfare, and new technologies) will likely become more salient and their solutions more complex. What should be done to ensure that the next generation of US and Chinese diplomats are well equipped to handle these issues?

A: During the telephone conversation between President Xi Jinping and President Biden, President Xi emphasized that with the international community facing many common challenges, China and the US need to show broad vision and shoulder great responsibilities. On the basis of respecting each other's core concerns and properly managing differences, the two countries need to continue their engagement and dialogue to advance coordination and cooperation on major international and regional issues.

On climate change, China and the US must first do their own things well. Both sides have announced their NDC goals, so we must honor our words with real actions. The international community has misgivings about whether the US can fulfill its promises and whether it will flip again.

Both China and the US should practice multilateralism, and safeguard the international system with the UN as the core and the international order based on international law. For example, on nuclear non-proliferation, the US cooperation with Australia on nuclear submarines give people reasons to question their sincerity and ability to honor international responsibilities and obligations, including non-proliferation commitments. If a country likes to talk about safeguarding a rules-based international order, but does not follow the rules set by itself, or only follows them selectively, or keeps flip-flopping, how can you expect other countries to trust this country?

The Internet and other new technologies have enabled progress, but also brought about risks and challenges. The international community must have new norms and standards to regulate them, so as to maximize their pros and minimize their cons. China and the US can negotiate and coordinate in this field. For example, China has put forward a Global Digital Security Initiative. We welcome the response from the US side, so that we can jointly maintain global digital and cyber security.

Q7: The US-China relationship is inching toward the danger of a conflict. What can China unilaterally do to deescalate the tensions in this relationship, so as to avoid conflict and confrontation between the two countries?

A: China has great sincerity in starting up a dialogue with the United States to deescalate the tensions in bilateral relationship. We will continue to work with the US side, as long as there are opportunities for cooperation. However, the cooperation between the two countries must be conducted in the principle of mutual respect. And the United States should not expect China's cooperation in areas where only the US has demand and interests, while neglecting or even undermining China's interests at the same time, in particular on these core issues concerning China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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When Political Relationship Between Two Countries Turns Confrontational, It Is Impossible To Keep Other Spheres Intact Embassy of the People's...

By Christopher Bing | Reuters

A cyber surveillance company based in Israel has developed a tool that can break into Apple iPhones with a never-before-seen technique used at least since February, internet security watchdog group Citizen Lab said on Monday.

The discovery is important because of the critical nature of the vulnerability, which affects all versions of Apples iOS, OSX, and watchOS, except for those updated on Monday.

The vulnerability exploited by the Israeli firm, named NSO Group, defeats security systems designed by Apple in recent years.

Apple said it fixed the vulnerability in Mondays software update, confirming Citizen Labs finding. However, an Apple spokesperson declined to comment regarding whether the hacking technique came from NSO Group.

Citizen Lab said it found the malware on the phone of an unnamed Saudi activist, which had been infected with spyware in February. It is unknown how many other users may have been infected.

The vulnerability comes from a flaw in how iMessage automatically renders images. IMessage has been repeatedly targeted by NSO, as well as other cyber arms dealers, prompting Apple to update its architecture. But that upgrade has not fully protected the system.

The security of devices is increasingly challenged by attackers, said Citizen Lab researcher Bill Marczak.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had no immediate comment.

Original post:
Apple says it has fixed newly discovered iPhone vulnerability - Silicon Valley

BOSTON TiE Boston, one of the regions largest and oldest organizations supporting the Massachusetts entrepreneurial ecosystem and connecting entrepreneurs, executives, and venture capitalists, unveiled names of speakers and topics for Track-1 of its annual TiECON East conference.

Track-1 will focus on Cyber Security, Internet of Things and AI With Respect to 5G. INDIA New England News will bring info on other three tracks during upcoming weeks. The annual TiECON East conference, which is organized by TiE Boston and scheduled for Oct. 1, 2021 at the Westin Hotel in Waltham, MA, is the largest conference of and for entrepreneurs and business executives in the Northeast.

Major sponsors of the conference are Amazon, Microsoft, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Arent Fox, Converge, Sittercity, Innospark, Thread Research, Progress and Embark.

Details on Track-1:

IoT (Internet of Things)

In the past decade, there has been an explosion of connected devices forming the IoT, which has promised to transform entire industries via digital twins, preventative maintenance, and new data sets. And yet, the IoT isnt as ubiquitous as we may think. Significant barriers to adoption persist. Hear from panelists at the forefront of deploying IoT systems at scale. Learn how theyre handling the technical challenges and justifying the RoI to these deployments.

Cybersecurity

From cities going offline and gas lines shutting down to data leaks and health system breaches you have likely heard of the impact cyber has had across the public, private and social sectors. No industry has been immune to its effects, and it has only increased in importance over time. In fact, recent reports show that hackers attack a computer in the U.S. every 39 seconds. Given we are all dealing with new cyber-attacks every day from the dark web, our panel will focus on hearing from the experts on cyber who spend most of their waking hours (and nightmares) thinking about how to protect data, technology, processes and people from cyber risks. We will hear about how traditional cybersecurity models put sand in the gears of digital programs and enterprises.

ML in 5G

The intersection of AI and 5G is ripe with opportunity. As more data at higher volumes becomes accessible, entirely new AI use-cases, trends, and business models will emerge. In this session, well explore the topics of 5G and AI, and discuss potential use-cases and business impacts. In addition, the panelists will discuss the potential business and ethical risks of these new applications.

Here is the list the speakers and moderators of Track-1:

For more information about TiECON East, please click here.

To buy ticket for the day-long conference, please click here.

Link:
TiECON East's Track-1 to Focus on Cyber Security, Internet of Things and AI With Respect to 5G - India New England

CHANTILLY, Va, Sept. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --NetAbstraction, the security by obfuscation company, today announced that retired Admiral Michael Rogers, former head of the U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency has been appointed Chairman of the company's Board of Advisors. Admiral Rogers will provide oversight to the company's advisors on matters of product, technology and corporate strategy.

"NetAbstraction has developed unique defensive technology that enables organizations to evade many forms of attack from both financially motivated criminals and more sophisticated adversaries," said retired Admiral Michael Rogers. "I look forward to working with the company's board of advisors and management team to help make their obfuscation products a mainstay for security conscious companies."

Michael S. Rogers, a former United States Navy admiral, served as the second commander of the United States Cyber Command(USCYBERCOM). He also served as directorof the National Security Agency (NSA) and as chief of the Central Security Service(CSS). Previously, Rogers was Commander of the Tenth Fleet and Commander of the United States Fleet Cyber Command. During his tenure, he helped transform and unify the U.S. Cyber Command, and bolster the DoD's cyberspace capabilities and expertise.

"Admiral Rogers has been one of the most influential figures in the history of the US Cyber Command and helped reshape the country's cyber defense capabilities," said Gordon Lawson, CEO of NetAbstraction. "It's a privilege and an honor to welcome him as Chairman of our Board of Advisors. His career experiences fighting the world's most sophisticated cyber adversaries will be invaluable as we drive adoption among businesses and government agencies for NetAbstraction's obfuscation technology."

About NetAbstraction

NetAbstraction enables organizations to protect the privacy and security of identities and systems by intelligently selecting and obscuring global network pathways on the Internet.The company's founders previously designed, created and implemented clandestine telecommunication networks for the NSA and CIA. NetAbstraction is used by Fortune 500 organizations globally to ensure their cyber operations remain secure, anonymous, and non-attributable. For more information visit https://netabstraction.com/, and follow us on LinkedInand Twitter.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/former-head-of-the-us-cyber-command-and-director-of-the-nsa-michael-rogers-joins-netabstraction-as-chairman-of-advisory-board-301370680.html

SOURCE NetAbstraction

Originally posted here:
Former head of the U.S. Cyber Command and Director of the NSA Michael Rogers Joins NetAbstraction as Chairman of Advisory Board - Johnson City Press...

The Domain Name System (DNS) is the index of the internet. When you browse to domain names like facebook.com or twitter.com, your device uses DNS to look up the IP addresses (e.g. 212.100.66.113) it needs to load those resources.

It's a simple idea, but one that has a huge effect on many areas of your internet life. In this article we'll talk more about how DNS works, and why it's important to your internet speeds, privacy, security and more.

Connect to the internet and your ISP normally assigns you at least two DNS servers (there's a spare in case the primary server fails). Every time you enter a new domain in your browser, your device sends a query to the primary DNS server, which translates it to the IP address you need.

Although this looks simple from your point of view, your ISP's DNS server (technically, a DNS recursor) must work with several other servers to make this happen.

The recursor first sends a request to a DNS root server. This looks at the extension of the domain (.com, .net, .org and so on) and returns the address of a Top Level Domain (TLD) nameserver which handles that domain type.

Your ISP's recursor then sends your query to the TLD nameserver, which passes back the authoritative nameserver for that domain.

Finally, the recursor sends your query to the authoritative nameserver, the one holding the actual record for this website.

This final DNS server returns the domain IP address to the recursor, which passes it back to your device. Finally, your browser can connect to it and begin accessing the site.

DNS queries are surprisingly fast, even though there's so much happening under the hood. Smart optimization and minimal bandwidth use means that a fast server close to you can return an IP in under 10 milliseconds.

Other DNS servers might take more than 100 milliseconds, though, and that's when DNS speed begins to make a noticeable difference. Especially as a single website might load resources from many domains.

If you access bigsite.com, for instance, it might load images from one server, scripts from another, adverts from several providers, social networking buttons for various platforms, and who knows what else. Every new domain requires another DNS query before you can access that resource... and they all add up.

Apps and devices reduce the impact of DNS queries by storing the IP addresses in a cache, and using them again for future connections.

On PCs, for example, DNS query results are stored by the browser and the operating system. You might wait a whole second for DNS queries on your first visit to bigsite.com, but visit another page on the site and your device uses the logged IP addresses for a near instant response.

DNS caches are normally lost when an app closes or your device restarts, so any DNS query delay will be back in your next session, just for the first visit to a site. But caching is still a worthwhile scheme which makes websites feel snappier and more responsive.

DNS servers are hugely powerful, as they have full control over the websites you can access. If a server doesn't want you to access a domain, it can filter out that request: return an error rather than an IP address, and you won't be able to browse the site.

DNS filtering is often a very good idea. It can block malicious or phishing websites, maybe restrict access to adult or other child-unfriendly sites (so great as part of a parental controls setup).

Other DNS filtering uses range from irritating to seriously scary. Your school Wi-Fi might block access to social media or streaming websites, for example, leaving you working out ways to unblock YouTube and others. And at the more worrying end of the scale, repressive governments can use DNS and other network trickery to keep their populations away from information they'd prefer to hide - it's no wonder guides to using WhatsApp in China are so well searched.

There are privacy and security concerns, too. If whoever runs the DNS server knows who you are (your ISP, say), it could log all the sites you visit to build a browsing history. A malicious hotspot operator might even detect users visiting a banking site, then redirect them to a fake site and steal their details.

Fortunately, there is a way to fight back. Connect to a VPN and your DNS queries are redirected through an encrypted tunnel to the VPN server, and handled there. With no way to see what you're doing, the network can't block you, and you're free to browse as normal.

Switching DNS servers isn't just for countries where you go to prison for registering thegovernmentsucks.com. Changing to another DNS provider can bring real benefits to everyone.

Some servers are optimized for speed. As we write, for instance, Benchmarking site DNSPerf lists 10 public DNS resolvers with average query times ranging from 14ms to almost 140ms. If your server is at the bottom end of that list, switching to something better could make a real difference.

As we've mentioned, other DNS servers can filter content to block ads, trackers, malicious, phishing or family-unfriendly sites, depending on your needs. This can be a really effective idea as it automatically protects all your apps, with no need to install any other software.

Switching DNS isn't a good idea for everyone. Some parental controls, antivirus and internet security apps already replace your DNS servers with their own, and switching to something else means you'll lose at least some of their protection.

If you're interested, though, some of the fastest DNS servers around are available for free. Check our best DNS server guide for more.

Read more:

Today's best overall VPNs in full:

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What is DNS and how does it work? - TechRadar