Counterintelligence probe of Chinese activity focuses on Mar-a-Lago, Cindy Yang, intruder

[MelissaB]

Source: Miami Herald

Federal authorities are investigating possible Chinese intelligence operations targeting President Donald Trump and his private Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago, sources familiar with the never-before-reported investigation told the Miami Herald Wednesday.

The federal counter-intelligence probe was turbo-charged on Saturday when U.S. Secret Service agents arrested a Chinese woman, Yujing Zhang, after they said she tried to enter the club with a bevy of electronic devices, including a thumb drive infected with “malicious malware.”

The ongoing investigation has also recently focused on Li “Cindy” Yang, the sources told the Miami Herald. Yang is a South Florida massage parlor entrepreneur who has promoted events at Mar-a-Lago with ads targeting Chinese business executives hoping to gain access to Trump and his family. The investigation began before the Herald revealed Yang’s business of selling access last month and focused on other people.

Before her arrest, Zhang was unknown to federal authorities. Now, investigators with the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force in South Florida are trying to figure out who Zhang is and whether she is involved in a possible Chinese intelligence mission and whether there are links to Yang’s social events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.


Read more: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article228783369.html

[MelissaB]

1. Another snip

“The surprise would be if Chinese and Russian and other adversarial governments were not trying to get into Mar-a-Lago and the president’s other properties,” said Peter Harrell, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and former Obama administration State Department official.”There’s a huge trove of information available.”

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article228783369.html#storylink=cpy

[riversedge]

4. Correct.

[mainer]

2. If Zhang was a spy, she was an incompetent one

She went right up to the guard to introduce herself, and again to another guard, etc. A good spy would already have been on the guest list or would have been brought in by a member of Mar a lago. Sounds more like a clueless woman wanting to get in good with the Trump family.

[Qutzupalotl]

3. The thumb drive with malware on it is troubling, though.

And the four phones — what’s up with that? And why the false cover story? Lots of strange behavior here. I’m glad it’s being investigated.

[DirtEdonE]

5. Thumb drives with malware...

2008 cyberattack on United States

"The 2008 cyberattack on the United States was the "worst breach of U.S. military computers in history". The defense against the attack was named "Operation Buckshot Yankee". It led to the creation of the United States Cyber Command.[

It started when a USB flash drive infected by a foreign intelligence agency was left in the parking lot of a Department of Defense facility[citation needed] at a base in the Middle East. It contained malicious code and was put into a USB port from a laptop computer that was attached to United States Central Command. From there it spread undetected to other systems, both classified and unclassified."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_cyberattack_on_United_States

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/cyber-intruder-sparks-response-debate/2011/12/06/gIQAxLuFgO_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.94f76af04cf8