#115 - The cyber threat from China, with Adam Kozy & Daniel Velasquez

In this episode of The Cybersecurity Defenders Podcast we have an in-depth talk about the cyber threat from China, with Adam Kozy and Daniel Velasquez.

Daniel started his career as a defender in the United States Marine Corps as an intelligence analyst where he served in Afghanistan - from there he went on to work with the Defense Intelligence Agency, Joint Special Operations Command and the CIA. After his service, he was a director at Mandiant and is now the Executive Vice President of OP[4] - a company providing security for critical devices and embedded systems.

Adam began his career as an intelligence analyst working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation where he provided all-source analysis of Asia-Pacifc related cybersecurity issues. After the FBI, Adam was the principal intelligence analyst for the Asia cyber team at CrowdStrike.

Currently, he is the founder of SinaCyber which is a boutique consulting firm combining native Chinese language research and cyber intelligence expertise to create bespoke reports for government officials, technology firms, and financial institutions under threat from China's rampant cyber espionage campaigns.

The history of China and its people goes back to ancient times. It is a rich and beautiful culture that has given much to the world in the form of art, ideas and technology. When we talk about China or the Chinese in this podcast episode we are specifically talking about the Chinese Communist Party - or CCP - which are a group of elites offering an increasingly authoritarian world view and alternative model to Western ideals of democracy and freedom.

The Chinese people themselves are not your enemy. Current laws in China make it easy for the CCP to co-opt its citizenry for use in intelligence operations, wittingly and unwittingly.

Unnecessarily making this into a racial divide alienates the folks that can help us the most in the coming years and provides more ammunition for Beijing.

It was an incredible honor to speak with these two, and I hope you enjoy this conversation full of valuable information.

Adam's testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Hearing on, “China’s Cyber Capabilities: Warfare, Espionage, and Implications for the United States” here.

The Mandiant report on APT1 can be found here.