Marc Hofer
@marchofer.bsky.social
Journalist ,former East-Africa and Middle East and a few years China. Ex SkyNews, Ex ITV. A few wars, a little bit of “cybersec and China” and other things.
Pinned
Marc Hofer
@marchofer.bsky.social
· Sep 5
NetAskari (@netaskari)
Chinas global data raiders: Read PART 2 of our analysis of “Hawk Eye” and see what offensive capabilities it hides in its guts.
substack.com
China’s global data raiders : PART 2 of our analysis of “Hawk Eye”. substack.com/@netaskari/n...
China created its digital surveillance state with the eager help of US’s BigTech, Dake Kang reports: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
Episode 4: State of surveillance - Made in America
An AP investigation reveals deep links of US big tech companies and the Chinese digital surveillance machine.
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:55 PM
China created its digital surveillance state with the eager help of US’s BigTech, Dake Kang reports: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
More comprehensive take on the KnownSec data leak: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
KnownSec breach: What we know so far.
After the initial buzz around the data leak from Chinese cybersecurity firm KnownSec, a few more details have since emerged. Here is our take.
open.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:29 PM
More comprehensive take on the KnownSec data leak: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
Some first thoughts on the KnownSec databreach : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
Breaking: KnownSec - Databreach
One of China's most prolific developers of digital forensic tools for the Chinese security services and provider of "cyber weapons" might have undergone a major data leak.
open.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Some first thoughts on the KnownSec databreach : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
A new comcept for a locked down DNS for China, will strengthen the country’s digital censorship: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
DNS4CN: A Truly Locked-Down DNS for China
China still relies heavily on the global DNS resolution system, creating a lot of headaches for the censors and puts extra strain on the Great Firewall of China. A new system design changes that.
open.substack.com
November 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
A new comcept for a locked down DNS for China, will strengthen the country’s digital censorship: open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
We interviewed Benjamin Mixon-Baca on his reaearch on Free VPNs, who is behind them and their links to Chinese cyber security companies and ex-PLA members. substack.com/@netaskari/n...
Free VPNs: Security flaws, hidden owners and potential links to the PLA.
Free VPNs are mushrooming in App-Stores. But they come often with a whole rat tail of problems and hidden "features".
substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 3:30 AM
We interviewed Benjamin Mixon-Baca on his reaearch on Free VPNs, who is behind them and their links to Chinese cyber security companies and ex-PLA members. substack.com/@netaskari/n...
A patent shows how China’s security services keep tabs on citizens mobile devices combining WiFi-probes and big-data collusion : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
Big Data = Big Surveillance
China’s ability to conduct digital surveillance on their population is not particularly new, but connecting those tools to big-data raises their potency.
open.substack.com
October 17, 2025 at 11:15 AM
A patent shows how China’s security services keep tabs on citizens mobile devices combining WiFi-probes and big-data collusion : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
Episode 2 of NetAskari’s podcast just dropped : The Locknet - substack.com/home/post/p-...
Episode 2: The Locknet
How China controls the internet and why it matters: Join Jessica Batke and Laura Edelson talking to us about their recent report.
substack.com
October 4, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Episode 2 of NetAskari’s podcast just dropped : The Locknet - substack.com/home/post/p-...
Reposted by Marc Hofer
“The source told CBS News that [Kash Patel and Dan Bongino] asked for "large, beefy" agents to conduct an arrest of Comey "in full kit," including Kevlar vests and exterior wear emblazoned with the FBI logo.” The leadership of the FBI is now in the hands of infantile psychopaths.
The FBI is weighing an arrest and perp walk for Comey — and suspended an agent for refusing to help, sources say
The FBI is considering carrying out a "showy" arrest and perp walk of the agency's now-indicted ex-Director James Comey, sources tell CBS News.
www.cbsnews.com
October 4, 2025 at 3:26 AM
“The source told CBS News that [Kash Patel and Dan Bongino] asked for "large, beefy" agents to conduct an arrest of Comey "in full kit," including Kevlar vests and exterior wear emblazoned with the FBI logo.” The leadership of the FBI is now in the hands of infantile psychopaths.
Xinjiang 912: The evolution of the Great Firewall forged in one of the world’s most surveilled and controlled regions. open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
October 2, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Xinjiang 912: The evolution of the Great Firewall forged in one of the world’s most surveilled and controlled regions. open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
We took a stroll among the less sexy “study” documents of MESA Lab but still found some interesting little nuggets on the future of China’s cyber strategy and developments : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
September 30, 2025 at 5:37 AM
We took a stroll among the less sexy “study” documents of MESA Lab but still found some interesting little nuggets on the future of China’s cyber strategy and developments : open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
Reposted by Marc Hofer
Federal agencies are racing to contain a new wave of sophisticated hacking by suspected Chinese attackers that took advantage of previously undiscovered flaws in widely used security software from networking company Cisco.
U.S. government scrambles to stop new hacking campaign blamed on China
U.S. cybersecurity officials ordered civilian federal agencies to check for vulnerable Cisco equipment being exploited by attackers targeting the government.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Federal agencies are racing to contain a new wave of sophisticated hacking by suspected Chinese attackers that took advantage of previously undiscovered flaws in widely used security software from networking company Cisco.
Selling China's Great Firewall to the world: a series of unprecedented data and document leaks lift the curtain on China's global surveillance and censorship business ( built with the help of some western big tech players too ). open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
September 22, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Selling China's Great Firewall to the world: a series of unprecedented data and document leaks lift the curtain on China's global surveillance and censorship business ( built with the help of some western big tech players too ). open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
We did a little bit of an analysis of a leaked project mindmap that according to us, reveals some internals of a Chinese network range, operated by the Ministry of Public Security.
September 12, 2025 at 2:43 PM
We did a little bit of an analysis of a leaked project mindmap that according to us, reveals some internals of a Chinese network range, operated by the Ministry of Public Security.
Not sure how reliable the numbers are as we have very scarce data on China, where the private-public cyber security sector is booming too.
September 11, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Not sure how reliable the numbers are as we have very scarce data on China, where the private-public cyber security sector is booming too.
Reposted by Marc Hofer
'Dark DNA' may explain dancing spiders' extraordinary diversity
'Dark DNA' may explain dancing spiders' extraordinary diversity
There are many more species of peacock spider than other animals, scientists think they may know why.
www.bbc.com
September 11, 2025 at 6:17 AM
'Dark DNA' may explain dancing spiders' extraordinary diversity
Reposted by Marc Hofer
Many in Silicon Valley call China a threat to freedom, but an AP investigation finds U.S. companies designed technology for China used to spy on and detain hundreds of thousands of people. The tech companies deny wrongdoing.
US tech companies enabled the surveillance and detention of hundreds of thousands in China
U.S. technology firms such as IBM, Dell and Cisco largely designed and built China’s surveillance state, an AP investigation finds. The tech companies deny wrongdoing.
bit.ly
September 10, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Many in Silicon Valley call China a threat to freedom, but an AP investigation finds U.S. companies designed technology for China used to spy on and detain hundreds of thousands of people. The tech companies deny wrongdoing.
A massive data set reveals the Chinese company that sales powerful and sweeping online surveillance systems to regimes around the globe: www.wired.com/story/geedge...
Massive Leak Shows How a Chinese Company Is Exporting the Great Firewall to the World
Geedge Networks, a company with ties to the founder of China’s mass censorship infrastructure, is selling its censorship and surveillance systems to at least four other countries in Asia and Africa.
www.wired.com
September 9, 2025 at 9:40 AM
A massive data set reveals the Chinese company that sales powerful and sweeping online surveillance systems to regimes around the globe: www.wired.com/story/geedge...
Check out the report here: tinyurl.com/mvxstdee
September 6, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Check out the report here: tinyurl.com/mvxstdee
China’s global data raiders : PART 2 of our analysis of “Hawk Eye”. substack.com/@netaskari/n...
NetAskari (@netaskari)
Chinas global data raiders: Read PART 2 of our analysis of “Hawk Eye” and see what offensive capabilities it hides in its guts.
substack.com
September 5, 2025 at 8:34 AM
China’s global data raiders : PART 2 of our analysis of “Hawk Eye”. substack.com/@netaskari/n...
Reposted by Marc Hofer
Trump says 11 killed in US strike on drug-carrying vessel from Venezuela
Trump says 11 killed in US strike on drug-carrying vessel from Venezuela
The Trump administration has signalled a willingness to use military force against drug cartels.
www.bbc.com
September 3, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Trump says 11 killed in US strike on drug-carrying vessel from Venezuela
Reposted by Marc Hofer
Even Bali is seeing serious rioting, with 2 injured and 138 detained up to now. The whole of Indonesia is aflame, and Prabowo has had to cancel his attendance in China's parade. This is big stuff, but as usual Indonesia flies under the Western media's radar.
www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/202...
www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/202...
Demo di DPRD dan Mapolda Bali: 138 Orang Ditangkap, 2 Warga Terluka
Polda Bali menangkap 138 orang usai aksi demonstrasi di DPRD Bali. Sebanyak 8 petugas terluka.
www.cnnindonesia.com
September 1, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Even Bali is seeing serious rioting, with 2 injured and 138 detained up to now. The whole of Indonesia is aflame, and Prabowo has had to cancel his attendance in China's parade. This is big stuff, but as usual Indonesia flies under the Western media's radar.
www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/202...
www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/202...
NetAskari uncovered a draft document on a server belonging to the Ministry of State Security in China, outlining a giant mass-data surveillance framework with offensive attack capabilities. Meet "Hawk Eye": open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
"Hawk Eye": A global online surveillance super weapon made in China ? ( PART 1 )
NetAskari reports exclusively on a mass-data analysis and storage system paired with offensive cyber operation capabilities aimed at users globally.
open.substack.com
August 29, 2025 at 3:43 PM
NetAskari uncovered a draft document on a server belonging to the Ministry of State Security in China, outlining a giant mass-data surveillance framework with offensive attack capabilities. Meet "Hawk Eye": open.substack.com/pub/netaskar...
Reposted by Marc Hofer
“The Taliban forcibly took over our joint venture oil fields and unreasonably drove our Chinese personnel out of the oil field at gunpoint.”
www.npr.org/2025/08/27/n...
www.npr.org/2025/08/27/n...
China-Afghan oil deal ends amid charges of hostage-taking and contract breach
The recent collapse of a high-profile Chinese oil deal in Afghanistan sheds light on the often opaque relationship between Beijing and the Taliban.
www.npr.org
August 29, 2025 at 4:01 AM
“The Taliban forcibly took over our joint venture oil fields and unreasonably drove our Chinese personnel out of the oil field at gunpoint.”
www.npr.org/2025/08/27/n...
www.npr.org/2025/08/27/n...
Reposted by Marc Hofer
the specific type of murder-focused "true crime" is mostly corrosive but I think crime books as a genre are important because a really good crime book is about money, power, class, poverty and so forth. they're the social realist novels of non-fiction, ideally.
I think true crime is basically just bad and morally corrosive most of the time, and I appreciate that people tried to do "oh it's about women trying to process living in a violent sexist world" but I actually think that's only a small part of it, true crime is mostly just dehumanising and grim
this inadvertently gets at why I find The Yogurt Shop Murders so much more thoughtful and effective than a typical true-crime doc. Why on earth would you expect a series about the brutal murder of four teenage girls to be “enjoyable”?
August 25, 2025 at 9:05 PM
the specific type of murder-focused "true crime" is mostly corrosive but I think crime books as a genre are important because a really good crime book is about money, power, class, poverty and so forth. they're the social realist novels of non-fiction, ideally.
Reposted by Marc Hofer
Donald Trump berated NBC and ABC as “two of the worst and most biased networks in history,” adding he’d support the FCC in revoking licenses to their television stations.
Trump Threatens NBC, ABC Licenses Over News Coverage
US President Donald Trump berated NBC and ABC as “two of the worst and most biased networks in history,” adding he’d support the FCC in revoking licenses to their television stations.
bloom.bg
August 25, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Donald Trump berated NBC and ABC as “two of the worst and most biased networks in history,” adding he’d support the FCC in revoking licenses to their television stations.