Radio 4 Stealing Of A Nation Download
Genciana Haggins
A Chinese national who allegedly stole more than 500 files from Google with confidential information on the company's AI technology has been arrested and charged with stealing trade secrets, according to the Justice Department.
The defendant, former Google employee Linwei Ding, was arrested Wednesday morning in Newark, Calif. The 38-year-old faces four counts of theft of trade secrets. Prosecutors say at the same time that Ding was working for Google and stealing the building blocks of its AI technology, he was also secretly employed by two China-based tech companies.
"The Justice Department will not tolerate the theft of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies that could put our national security at risk," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "We will fiercely protect sensitive technologies developed in America from falling into the hands of those who should not have them."
The case is latest example of what American officials say is a relentless campaign by China to try to steal U.S. trade secrets, technology and intellectual property. Officials say China aims to use those stolen secrets to supplant the U.S. as the world's leading power.
"Today's charges are the latest illustration of the lengths affiliates of companies based in the People's Republic of China are willing to go to steal American innovation," said FBI Director Christopher Wray. "The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies can cost jobs and have devastating economic and national security consequences."
AI also could become an indispensable tool to help law enforcement protect public safety. But Justice Department officials also have warned of the potential dangers that AI poses to national security if it falls into the hands of criminals or hostile nation states.
In Ding's case, the indictment says the trade secrets he allegedly stole are related to "the hardware infrastructure and software platform that allow Google's supercomputing data centers to train large AI models through machine learning."
"After an investigation, we found that this employee stole numerous documents, and we quickly referred the case to law enforcement," Castaneda said. "We are grateful to the FBI for helping protect our information and will continue cooperating with them closely."
Prosecutors say Ding tried to hide what he was doing by copying the stolen files first into the Apple Notes application on his laptop, converting them into PDF files and uploading those into his personal Cloud account.
Less than a month later, court papers say, Ding received emails from the head of a Chinese technology company, Beijing Rongshu Lianzhi Technology, with an offer to be the company's chief technology officer.
Ding allegedly traveled to China to help raise money for the company, which worked on AI, and was announced as the company's CTO. A year later, Ding also allegedly founded his own technology company, Zhisuan, that also focused on AI and machine learning.
Then in December 2023, court papers say, Google detected Ding trying to upload more files from the company's network to his personal account while he was in China. Ding allegedly told the company's investigator that he'd uploaded the files as evidence of his work for Google.
A week after being interviewed by the investigator, Ding allegedly booked a one-way ticket to Beijing. He then sent his resignation letter to Google. Shortly after that, the company learned of Ding's role with Zhisuan. Google then suspended his access to the company's networks.
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the DNC is working to secure its network as quickly as possible. She's shown here in 2014. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Russian hackers have been accessing the Democratic National Committee's computer network for the past year, and have stolen information including opposition research files on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
According to CrowdStrike, the security firm the DNC called in to deal with the massive data breach, one group of hackers tied to the Russian government has been stealing information from the national party for about a year.
A second group, also tied to Russia, accessed the DNC's network in April. "They went straight for the research department of the DNC and exfiltrated opposition materials on Mr. Trump," Alperovitch said.
"Instead," company co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch wrote in a lengthy blog post, "we observed the two Russian espionage groups compromise the same systems and engage separately in the theft of identical credentials."
In a statement, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, "The security of our system is critical to our operation and to the confidence of the campaigns and state parties we work with. When we discovered the intrusion, we treated this like the serious incident it is and reached out to CrowdStrike immediately. Our team moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network."
It's not unusual for hackers to break into presidential candidates' websites. In fact, it's happened during the last two presidential campaigns. In the most high-profile incident, hackers shut down Mitt Romney's campaign site for several hours in 2012.
Last month, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told lawmakers, "We've already had some indications of [political hacking]. And a combination of [the Department of Homeland Security] and FBI are doing what they can to educate both campaigns against a potential cyberthreat."
This isn't the DNC's first high-profile data breach, either. Last December, a breakdown in the server that Democrats use to store information about voters allowed staffers from Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign to briefly access files from the Clinton campaign.
But a campaign-to-campaign data breach is much different from the penetration of a network by foreign hackers. According to CrowdStrike, the two Russian hacking groups have also "previously infiltrated the unclassified networks of the White House, State Department, and US Joint Chiefs of Staff," as well as private companies in the energy, media and aerospace sectors.
Alperovitch said it's still not clear how the hackers were able to gain their initial access to the DNC's network, as they covered their digital tracks. But, he said, "typical tradecraft for these groups is to compromise the network through what is known as spearphishing, where they send fake emails to individuals within the organization, and getting them to click on a link or an attachment."
Tomorrow at 11:30 p.m. is the first day of spring, and it coincides with an important change in our economy. A season of hope is giving way to a season of progress. We're seeing the proof that our great national struggle to make our economy well again is beginning to pay off. Yes, we have a long way to go, but factories are reopening, workers called back, production in housing, autos, and steel picking up, and new breakthroughs in high technology busting out all over.
The question is no longer will we have recovery, but how long will recovery last? It's been nearly 20 years since the United States enjoyed a long-lasting economic expansion that didn't trigger ruinous inflation and high interest rates. We're trying to build that kind of recovery now. We can have it if we stick to common sense and don't go back to the big spending and taxing addiction that brought this economy to its knees in 1980.
Unfortunately, it's still true that the more things change, the more they stay the same. America is on the mend, but this recovery could be stopped dead in its tracks if big spenders in the Congress have their way. I was greatly encouraged when we had some bipartisan success on a couple of sticky problems. But unfortunately, those who place their faith in big government and heavy spending reverted to type.
Right now, House liberals are pushing a budget -- the so-called liberal Democratic budget -- that, if implemented, would reverse the progress we've made and wreck our program to rebuild the economy. They want to throw out the window much of the domestic budget savings we've achieved over the last 2 years. And they would go much further, seeking $181 billion in higher domestic spending over the next 5 years, excesses that would send the budget, prices, and interest rates soaring out of control and our economy into a tailspin.
To cite just one example, Medicare would be driven into bankruptcy by the failure of their budget to address its problems. Our proposed budget meets the needs of our people without bankrupting the system.
Now, how do they propose to pay for their reckless binge? Two ways: by compromising America's defense security and by slapping massive new tax increases on every working family. Ignoring the Soviets' tremendous advantage in military forces, the liberals would cripple our efforts to modernize America's defenses. To put it bluntly, their budget gambles with our security and safety. Their proposed $163 billion cut in defense spending over the next 5 years would put the United States right back in the position of military vulnerability we were in after a decade of neglect in the 1970's.
We were shocked to learn when we got here that we had so many ships that couldn't leave port, planes that couldn't take off, and helicopters that couldn't stay aloft -- all of this because of our lack of spare parts, sometimes of crew, inability to keep things repaired, or shortage of fuel.
We've begun to do something about that, and we've made real progress with our investment in peace through strength. But passage of the liberal budget would seriously undermine our rebuilding progress. Here are just some of the things that we might have to do if they have their way: deactivate one active and one reserve division; decommission one entire carrier battle group and some two dozen other ships; deactivate three Marine Corps fighter squadrons; deactivate two active and two reserve Air Force tactical fighter wings and six continental U.S. air defense squadrons; terminate major weapons programs from each service; sacrifice hard-won gains in readiness and sustainability by cutting our budgets for major repairs and ammunition by 25 percent and by cutting back on troop exercises and training.
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