Industrial espionage

It used to be that industrial espionage involved cloak-and-dagger operations, with corporate spies breaking into offices to collect highly valuable information. Information technology changed all that. Today, cyber agents don’t even have to be anywhere near their target because they have the ability to steal trade secrets from anywhere in the world even in the confines of their own homes.

Researchers of an American computer company said they have tracked a crack team of professional “hackers for hire” believed to be responsible for some of the biggest espionage attacks against American companies in the past five years. US company Symantec said the for-hire group codenamed “Hidden Lynx,” most likely composed of 50 to 100 people, is highly trained at stealing highly classified corporate information.

While the group has been conducting its cyber-spying outside of China, sources believe Hidden Lynx works exclusively for the Chinese government and state-owned businesses, although it is not certain if the group is a Chinese military unit. Researchers believe that Hidden Lynx was involved in the massive hacking attack in 2009 that targeted American companies such as Google and EMC, a multinational engaged in cloud computing, data storage and information security.

Cyber security firm Mandiant had earlier published a report claiming that a unit of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army based outside of Shanghai is engaged in spying against US companies, even showing a building where the hackers purportedly operate. China of course has vehemently denied the accusations, and even tried to turn the tables against the US when former National Security Administration (NSA) employee Edward Snowden leaked details of the US government’s mass surveillance programs.

The NSA whistleblower has since gone underground, believed to be living somewhere under heavy protection in Russia. However, his continued disclosures are causing a strain on the relationship between the US and other countries. As a matter of fact, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has cancelled her state visit to Washington in October after the release of NSA files showing that the US agency has been intercepting communications, keeping tabs on the Brazilian President and her staff, and peeking into the records of Brazilian oil company Petrobras.

An irate Rousseff said the Petrobras spying, if proven, is tantamount to industrial espionage – something that NSA denied, saying the intelligence community collects information about financial matters and terrorist financing to warn the US and its allies about international financial crises that could negatively impact the global economy. 

Nevertheless, President Dilma Rousseff wants to dissociate Brazil from the “US-centric” Internet, planning to change Internet laws and perhaps develop their own version of Google to protect Brazil’s data from American snooping. A proposed bill would require Google, Facebook and other US Internet companies to physically store Brazilian data in Brazil. This could put a dent on Silicon Valley profits considering that Brazilians are among the top users of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, with industry observers estimating the losses to be somewhere in the vicinity of $35 billion.

Global airline industry upbeat

The European Union’s agreement on a compromise regarding the aviation component of its Emissions Trading System has eased tensions, causing airline industry executives to be optimistic that an acceptable global aviation emissions deal will soon be worked out. The EU wants to impose stringent carbon emission standards and came out with a rule that requires airlines landing or taking off from EU member-states to buy “carbon permits” for 15 percent of their emissions, with the other 85 percent to be provided initially for free.

A lot of countries including China and the US slammed the EU rule, warning of retaliatory measures that include airspace restrictions on European liners.  A carbon trade war has been averted, with optimism high that an agreement will be arrived at that will see emissions getting cut by 2020.  

China had earlier suspended billions of dollars worth of orders for Airbus aircraft in retaliation – something that must have definitely thrown the European aircraft manufacturer off kilter. According to industry experts, China’s aviation traffic is estimated to grow at an average of seven percent annually, and will need more than 5,000 new planes (costing approximately $780 billion) in the next two decades.

Canadian aircraft maker Bombardier is looking to supply a big chunk of China’s – and the global airline industry’s – requirement for new aircraft through its new CS 100 medium range airliner that it launched a couple of days ago. According to Bombardier, the company has already secured 177 firm orders for the aircraft which has been nicknamed the “whisper jet” due to its quiet engines.

The CS 100 (with deliveries scheduled to start in 2014) can seat 100-125 passengers and is said to consume 20 percent less fuel than other aircraft of its class.  An executive said they hope to increase the orders to 300 in the next few months, adding that they are ready to go against Boeing and Airbus with their CSeries jetliners that are comparable to the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A318 and A319.  The Bombardier official cited the industry forecast that about 7,000 liners that can seat up to 150 passengers will be needed in the next 20 years to replace ageing aircraft – optimistically saying they hope to supply half of the requirement. 

Incidentally, Boeing conducted a maiden test flight the other day for its 787-9 Dreamliner, the bigger version of the Boeing 787-8. The new aircraft is the latest member in the Dreamliner family of midsize jets designed for better fuel efficiency and can carry from 250 to 290 passengers.

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