A recent USA Today tech article focused on the invasion of privacy many will face when traveling to the Olympics in China this summer. The warnings, aimed mostly at federal officials and business people, are telling travellers that the Chinese government will most likely attempt to penetrate the electronic devices (cell phones, PDAs, and laptops) being brought into the country. The Chinese government intends to steal information and plant bugs to gain access to U.S. networks. Just about anyone that has political influence, a government position, or works for a large company is at risk to have their privacy completely compromised.
The Overseas Security Advisory Council states that Chinese government frequently uses these tactics to gain access to personal and official computers. China's Internet and wireless networks are run by the government, which has access to any bit of data being transferred. A laptop being searched by airport security or left in the hotel while attending the day's games are vulnerable to attack. The control that the government has over the Internet allows them to invade any one's privacy since they have to surf the web through their network.
This is a major privacy threat for anyone travelling abroad for the Olympics. Any information you have on you is subject to Chinese inspection. Further, travelers coming home. should have their systems checked before connecting their network.
So now where does it go from here? Consider travelling without any of these electronics. If you have to bring them with you, make sure no personal or official information (of a sensitive nature) is stored on them. And if none of those precautions can be taken, then make sure a good proxy server is used while in China, and have everything on the computer's drive encrypted.
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