As reliance on cloud computing grows, business deals made by American technology firms, China’s increasing control over undersea cable networks, and the Chinese Communist Party’s intense subsidization of digital infrastructure present a tangible threat to Americans’ data security, a new report published by the American Security Project has found.
One key vulnerability identified in the report is the partnerships struck by Amazon Web Services and Microsoft with Chinese firms in order to provide cloud computing services in mainland China. As a result of these deals, the two firms are required to store all Chinese data in China and are required to transfer foreign data, including that of Americans, to the Chinese Communist Party upon request. Additionally, ASP identifies China’s increased presence in building and maintaining undersea internet cables, growth largely fueled by the CCP’s aggressive subsidies, as another vector for Beijing to surveil Western data.
“AI infrastructure is a critical tool in America’s economic, military, and diplomatic arsenal, and the CCP’s gamed the system to have it both ways,” said ASP senior staffer Courtney Manning, the report’s lead author. “They’re giving Chinese enterprises an unfair edge in global markets while finding holes in our export controls to steal our data. We can’t keep turning a blind eye to the grey zone activities happening in the cloud. If we do, authoritarian systems built with American resources will spread unabated through U.S. infrastructure abroad.”
Many corporations operating in China are subject to the same laws that allow the CCP to demand data from Amazon and Microsoft. Just because the CCP has the legal right to request U.S. data doesn’t mean that these firms have handed data to Beijing, however.
A spokeswoman for Microsoft referred the Washington Examiner to recent congressional testimony given by CEO Brad Smith where he claimed the law that could require his firm to hand over data is not always enforced in China and that, if it was enforced, Microsoft would not comply. The Republican member of Congress questioning him expressed doubt in those claims.
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Author: Marty Kaufmann
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