On Tuesday the Secretary of the Navy on Wednesday warned industry about Chinese spying amid recent federal charges against alleged spies.
“Be very protective of the data in your own companies. I really mean this. Do everything that you can, do everything that you can afford to do within your own companies to protect that data, to protect it electronically, but also physically.” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said during an AFCEA Naval Information Technology conference on Oct. 25.
“We are really challenged in this country from what China has done, and other countries to a lesser extent, but China, in particular,” he continued.
“Too many of their ships and aircraft look just like our own because they’ve stolen our – your intellectual property. You’ve got to be really, really aware of what’s going on.”
Del Toro underscored the announcement by the Justice Department on Oct. 24 that, in three separate cases, it charged 13 people for alleged spying.
Seven persons, including two arrested, are accused of surveillance and a campaign to harass and coerce a U.S. resident to return to China as extralegal repatriation; two accused Chinese intelligence officers were charged with attempting to obstruct a criminal prosecution of a Chinese company; and four other Chinese nationals were charged as using a fake think tank to recruit academics and former government officials to work for the Chinese government.
“They really are out there and they’re really trying to get to your data. And I’m not saying this to put the fear of God into you, even though maybe I am saying to put the fear of God into you.”
Del Toro noted while he has talked to his own acquisition specialists to address espionage within the Navy Department he was warning industry personnel that “it’s ok to come to a conference and talk about the challenges that we face and that we can work on together. It’s not ok to go into specific details about specific programs that we’re developing.”
“So pay close attention to situations that aren’t normal situations around you every day. And be suspicious of people who come ask you questions that perhaps you don’t know or haven’t asked those questions before. Do a little bit of extra due diligence to make sure you know who it is that you are talking to and you know who it is that you’re engaging with in a business, alright?
Del Toro emphasized to industry in the audience to watch out with an example of someone a company does not know offering millions of dollars to become a new partner.
“Do a little bit of due diligence into who they are, make sure they say who they are, ok? I really would appreciate it if you took the time to do that, because it’s very, very important.”