Dito a Chinese Communist tool for spying – lawmakers

Alarms intensify about Communist China’s partly owned Dito Telecommunity being a tool for spying on the Philippines. This, amid Chinese military cyber-attacks on the Japanese and Australian governments, and tech giant Microsoft.

Senator Risa Hontiveros accused state firm China Telecom of using Philippine partner Dito as Trojan horse for cyber-espionage. Senator James McGrath of Queensland, Australia, warned that ChinaTel and Dito can be used against Philippine allies and foreign companies.

Hontiveros in a statement pressed for a security audit by the National Security Council of the country’s third telco Dito to assess foreign threats. “I wouldn’t be surprised if ChinaTel bought into Dito to boost its espionage, especially since China covets our territory,” she said in Filipino. “Perhaps Dito is indeed China’s Trojan horse, that’s why I continue to check on Dito as well as the NSC to ensure our national security will not be vulnerable.”

A “Trojan horse” is a person or thing intended secretly to undermine an enemy. In info-tech, it is a program designed to breach the security of a communication network while ostensibly performing some innocuous function.

The Philippines has no operations center to defend against cyber-attacks on a national level. National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon made that admission last December in a Senate hearing on Dito’s 25-year franchise.

Hontiveros and colleagues have been questioning the defense department’s allowing Dito to set up cell sites inside military camps. The multibillion-dollar firm is 60-percent owned by businessman Dennis Uy, President Duterte’s biggest campaign contributor. It bagged a government bidding for the third telco after Duterte invited ChinaTel to invest.

In the Senate hearing, Esperon confirmed Hontiveros’ report about a China-linked hacking group penetrating Asia-Pacific government agencies. Naikon breaks into and surveils state networks.

In a speech, McGrath cautioned about the Chinese Communist Party’s use of its instrumentalities for cyber-sabotage. “Many are concerned that Dito is a [tool] for spying, including on the Armed Forces of the Philippines and its allies the United States and Australia,” he said. “When we consider how many Australian companies house parts of their businesses in the Philippines, such as call centers, this should ring alarm bells with cybersecurity experts.”

An “iron silk curtain” is being drawn around Southeast Asia as China expands its influence, McGrath added. “While China has continued with its wolf-warrior diplomacy and while territorial concerns continue to be raised, including in seas off Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, the CCP and its military arm have been quietly making strategic acquisitions of another kind.”

The Australian lawmaker outlined China’s regional design. “We must be awake to the Philippines being one of the first dominoes at risk of falling to the nefarious influence of the CCP,” he said. Asia-Pacific consulting firm Creator Tech recently released a study on the new telco that raised serious concerns about China’s entry into the Philippines’ telecoms industry.

Last month, Tokyo police disclosed cyber-attacks by China’s People’s Liberation Army. Targeted since 2016 were the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and 200 other companies and research institutes. A frequent victim of Chinese hacking, Japan has since improved its cybersecurity.

In the attack on JAXA, police first discovered a suspicious web server. It turned out to have been opened through a fake account of a Chinese systems engineer in Tokyo who is a CCP member. The suspect has since fled but accomplices and witnesses have implicated him. With its findings, Tokyo has been deluged with requests for information and help by countries similarly harmed by the CCP and PLA.

Last year, in a major security breach, Australia was hit by a large-scale cyber attack by a “Chinese state-based actor.” The incident led to tightening of the country’s cyber security.

In July, China’s Ministry of State Security orchestrated an attack on Microsoft Exchange that affected at least 30,000 servers worldwide. America, Britain and the European Union denounced what western security services called “a shift from targeted espionage campaigns to smash-and-grab raids.” China’s cyber malice is now under close watch despite Beijing’s denial of misbehavior.

In a webinar Monday by Australia Strategic Policy Institute, experts from East and Southeast Asia reiterated concern for peace and security. Nations must strengthen cyber security in light of China’s aggression in the East and South China Seas, they said.

To dispel suspicions of cyber-espionage and -sabotage, Dito has hired US security consultants. But China’s National Intelligence Law obligates its companies and citizens to support domestic and overseas espionage, and to keep such participation secret. Beijing has required all firms, especially tech and finance, to have Communist Party cells. In state corporations, the top executives comprise the CCP units.

Former Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio noted that newbie Dito is inexpert in telecoms so will depend on CCP-led ChinaTel. If the CCP orders ChinaTel to install back doors and spyware, then it can eavesdrop and sabotage the Philippines. The Armed Forces would be vulnerable because of Dito’s privilege to install cell sites in all camps.

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