Visiting China? Throw away your mobile phone on returning

It appears that the US Government doesn’t think that it’s a good idea to use any of your electronic equipment like laptops and mobile phones after you return from a trip to China. In fact they suggest that you use separate equipment all together for your trip and then wipe it clean afterwards.

Such was the case when Mark Bregman, chief technology officer at Symantec, was advised by some “three-letter agencies in the US Government” to buy a mobile phone in the US and throw it away when he returned. This is on top of the fact that he already uses a separate MacBook Air for his trips to China – which the agencies also suggested he weight before leaving and again on returning – which he reimages every time he returns home.

Bregman said the US was also concerned about its companies employing Chinese coders, particularly in security.

He said the “software supply concern” was due to fears that Chinese developers would insert malicious code into software sold to American companies or the US government.

Source: CRN – Safety first for IT executives in China