… that both “Saskatchewan” and “potash” were the subject of international intrigue, high-tech espionage and a potential plot for a James Bond movie, one of the most interesting aspects to the story was that the hackers also targeted the two primary Toronto law firms involved in the transaction: Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP, which represented BHP, and Stikeman Elliott LLP, which represented Potash Corp.
The law firms had sophisticated Internet security systems in place to prevent the malware from accessing and disclosing any confidential information about the transaction or any other client information. But the fact cyber-spies interested in the potash deal would attack law firms for information that might give them, their “customer,” or perhaps their country an edge, should reinforce within the legal community the importance of continuously maintaining and updating online security.
[…]
The BHP/Potash story should serve as a wake-up call to clients who need to be sure the confidential information contained on their lawyer’s servers relating to their businesses will be kept confidential and secure, and immune from attack by cyber criminals or cyber spies.
Or, you know – it could serve as a “wake-up call” that China is a criminal enterprise.
h/t RV
Saskatchewan should feel honoured – with Dildo McDinky at the helm in Ontario the Chinese don’t have to spend time on the intelligence/sabotage stuff.
Hey, you don’t suppose Ol’ Dildo’s batteries are charged in Bejing, do ya?
Potash Is Forever
The Stubblejumper Who Loved Me
The Billiton Protocol
Get Steyn!
30 Seconds Driving Through Saskatoon
Code Name: Roadkill
Potash Is Forever
The Stubblejumper Who Loved Me
Get Steyn!
The Billiton Protocol
Code Name: Roadkill
The Double Posting Spy
“Or, you know – it could serve as a ‘wake-up call’ that China is a criminal enterprise.”
Sorry, but you’re wrong, Kate.
What China is doing isn’t criminal* at all; it’s just good old-fashioned espionage in pursuit of its own national interests.
* Well, yes, sure, it’s criminal in Canada. But that’s neither here nor there.
Our own intelligence gathering activities are criminal in China. That shouldn’t deter us though.
Potash Galore!
Potassiumfinger
Live and Let Mine
Licence to Drill
From China with Love
Casino Loyal
Criminal? So is the US Gov’t. THe difference is that China is not criminal by its own laws, while the US Gov’t is criminal by anyone’s law.
“What China is doing isn’t criminal* at all; it’s just good old-fashioned espionage in pursuit of its own ‘Communist’ national interests.”
There JJM, I fixed that for you.
,
It would be interesting to see what we are doing in retaliation.
Canada is morally equivalent to China, JJM? I’m afraid not!
China’s ” intelligence gathering ” is actually organized theft of commercial as well as military technology, and trade secrets.
Canada does nothing remotely similar.
Your statement that these thefts are ” neither here nor there ” exonerates the Chinese.
Are you an admirer of the Chinese ways, JJM?
Thank goodness the spooks are still popular.
I have written several pieces about China, over the years, just check my weblog http://www.onwardjames.blogspot.com and type in the searchbox China or Chicoms (Chinese Communists)and scroll down. Some of them are older posts and you might have to click onto that. Or you can just google Onward James.
There were several servers connected to the blog in Taiwan, up until the election, but never in China that I know of through Feed Burner.
I was asked to review a book Tiger Trap, which is on the blog, about Chinese spies and quasi-spooks. You can type Tiger Trap in the searchbox or here’s the link…
http://onwardjames.blogspot.com/2011/06/americas-secret-spy-war-with-china.html
Now there are no Taiwan connections but one or two Chinese.
Maybe they will ask an attractive Chinese journalist to interview me. Usually agents or double-agents. But I doubt it since I am insignificant to them… no Potash, nor rare metals, no major business, no lawyers that they could hack.
Continue the awareness…
Edmund Onward James
@JJM: Industrial espionage may be commonplace in business, but it is a criminal enterprise. Sometimes domestic perpetrators are caught and prosecuted.
However, it’s difficult to prosecute when the offending enterprise is a Chinese firm controlled by the People’ party; using technology provided by the People’s army; and passing through a proxy.
Human intelligence efforts are also way more prevalent than you might think, thanks in part to our overeager investment in bringing foreign graduate students to Canada.
Until you have actually tried to run a technology business, you can’t begin to imagine just how wholesale the Chinese effort is. They work on a distributed, high-volume basis and they do. not. stop.
I have way more personal experience with this that you would believe possible in a start-up. I was simply not left alone until we publicly announced what our technology was and it became clear that it had little immediate commercial value. Cyber attacks still continue on a frequent basis.
I suggest that you read “Nest of Spies” by Fabrice de Pierrebourg and Michel Juneau-Katsuya. I thought they were paranoid at first, but they absolutely aren’t.
Using Occam’s shaving kit, I’ve decided that this was nothing more than a good old fashioned attempt to get insider information to make money.
Let’s face it – China is getting diddly (less than 1.4%) on most of its US treasury bills. That’s being eaten up by inflation, and the US’s attempt to walk the dollar down similarly diminishes Chinese wealth, as so much of their foreign assets are denominated in the greenback. So, they’re looking for ways to make more money.
Now, if you had insider info that Brad was going to block the sale of POT, shorted it at $70, and covered at $25, you made a pot-ful of money in less than six months. If you went long at $25, you’ve almost doubled your money in 2 years. Take a look at the Dow or SP500, and tell me where you would have rather been.
I agree with other posters; nations (that can afford it) spy. Anyone who thinks the US doesn’t spy on Canada is nuts; they may be our friends, but they still want to know what’s going on behind the scenes. As the wikileaks cables showed, what’s said in public and what’s said in private are two different things. To me, it’s both naive and irresponsible for a government (including Canada’s) to put its entire faith in the public pronouncements of other countries. A few well-placed Russian spies in early 1941 might have shortened WWII (it’s Pearl Harbor day, hence this analogy) considerably.
Ratt: “What China is doing isn’t criminal* at all; it’s just good old-fashioned espionage in pursuit of its own ‘Communist’ national interests.”
States pursue their own national interests. This is true of every state whether “communist”, “Catholic”, “progressive”, “liberal democratic” or “vegetarian”.
small c conservative: “Canada is morally equivalent to China, JJM? I’m afraid not!”
Did I say I thought we were? I merely pointed out the blindingly obvious: states spy on each other.
Chris Ivey: “@JJM: Industrial espionage may be commonplace in business, but it is a criminal enterprise. Sometimes domestic perpetrators are caught and prosecuted.”
Then I suggest you try sending an RCMP detachment to the People’s Republic of China to arrest all those scalliwags in the Ministry of State Security.
That’ll show ’em Canada means business, eh?