Ben’s list of unclassified databases for the Chinese to steal is just too much fun not to follow up. At the risk of piling on, here are a few more that a good Chinese spy ought to look at:
- The Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States. CFIUS is an inter-agency committee authorized to review transactions that could result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign person in order to determine the effect of such transactions on the national security of the United States. Who wouldn’t want to know what countries are buying what corporations in the US, or which ones might be suspect?
- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sensitive information database. Most of the NRC’s data is public — but they withhold sensitive information about vulnerabilities in power plants and reactors along with information about nuclear materials. Sounds like that might be worth looking into …
- And while we are at it, how about all the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filings by the electric utilities. Now that FERC has issued mandatory cybersecurity compliance standards, I bet those compliance reviews will make interesting reading.
But let’s not stop there. After all, it isn’t just the Federal government that has a treasure trove of unclassified data worth stealing. How about:
- The drivers’ license files in the 50 States. It has to be fun to know what everyone in the US =really= looks like and where they live.
- Or, just for fun, how about the scientific research at our Universities.
And these are just off the top of my head.