Counterfeit Chinese Technology: Gateway for Hackers?

Source: ABCNEWS

The FBI is investigating whether counterfeit routers and computer hardware from China installed in U.S. government computer networks might provide a secret gateway for hackers to tap into secure government databases.

Sources told ABC News the counterfeit hardware could represent a major breach to national security. An FBI PowerPoint presentation, which somehow ended up on a Web site, lays out the concerns and the breadth of what has been a far-reaching investigation.

Friday afternoon a somewhat miffed FBI released a statement that read: "At the request of another federal government agency, on Jan. 11, 2008, the FBI's Cyber Division provided an unclassified PowerPoint presentation and briefing on efforts to counter the production and distribution of counterfeit network hardware," said FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director James Finch. "This unclassified briefing was never intended for broad distribution or posting to the Internet."

Finch goes on to talk about Operation Cisco Raider, which "targeted illegal distributors of counterfeit network hardware manufactured in China and included 15 investigations across nine FBI field offices and the execution of 39 search warrants."

According to Finch, the FBI "disrupted a large distribution network and recovered approximately 3,500 counterfeit network components with an estimated retail value of over $3.5 million."

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India enters green coal technology era in Vijaywada

BHEL and APGENCO have signed an agreement to set up a 125 Mw power plant at Vijaywada using IGCC (integrated gasification combined cycle) technology that BHEL has been working on for the past two decades. A 6 Mw pilot plant has been running at BHEL, Tiruchi since 1983 and this is now being upscaled to commercial size. IGCC produces significantly less greenhouse gases, has operating efficiency of around 40%, reduces water consumption by about 40% and also has lower solid waste production. IGCC also offers a technical pathway for cost-effective separation of carbon dioxide and co-production of hydrogen.

The agreement was signed on the 10th of May,2008 in Vishakapatnam in the presence of the Union Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram, the Union Minister for Heavy Industry, Shri Santosh Mohan Dev and the Minister of State for Power and Commerce, Shri Jairam Ramesh.

Complimenting BHEL and APGENCO for what he termed a “ truly historic initiative”, Shri Jairam Ramesh said that this project has major implications for India’s energy strategy that has to reckon seriously with international concerns on global warming arising out of expanding coal use. There are seven or eight IGCC plants in the 250-300 Mw range in other countries like the USA but they all use low ash coal, Shri Jairam Ramesh said. The Vijaywada plant will use high ash Indian coals. It will cost around Rs 950 crores, of which roughly Rs 420 crores will come from BHEL and the balance Rs 530 crores from APGENCO. The project is scheduled for commissioning in mid-2011. More...