US tells its athletes not to take regular mobile phones to China, use makeshift burner phones

 

The Winter Olympics will begin in China's capital Beijing from Friday, February 4. Many Western countries, including the US, have made diplomatic boycotts of the games. Now the US has taken another step to protect athletes. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has asked American athletes not to take their regular mobile phones to China, but to use prepaid burner phones instead.

Burner phone means mobile phones that are cheap and makeshift. They can be destroyed after use. The term 'burner phone' was used for the first time in HBO's drama series in 2002. Burner term can be considered as use and throw.

What's the danger, after all?

The U.S. and many countries around the world think that the safety features of their athletes' phones can be targeted through a bug. This kind of thing is common in China. He has been doing the same to his citizens. To avoid this, the FBI has issued strict orders to American athletes to leave their iPhones or smartphones at home. Use temporary phones instead. The Beijing Winter Olympics will be held from February 4 to 20.

By the way, why only the US, the National Olympic Committees of many Western countries have also clearly said in the circular sent to their athletes that they should not take their personal electronic gadgets to Beijing, because cyber security is a big challenge there.

U.S. agencies are already on alert.

Us officials and the FBI's cybersecurity unit have been keeping an eye on China since February last year. During last year's presidential election, China had also plotted cyber hacking. Russian agencies are believed to have also been involved. According to the FBI, at the moment, there is no information about any spacefic threat in Beijing, but it is very important to be alert. One of the reasons for this is that China has installed advanced techno surveillance equipment there. Facial recognition technology is also being used. These are dangerous things from the point of view of cybersecurity.

Business and education sector also alerted

The Counter Intelligence Service in the US has also issued an alert to the country's business community and academics. They have been asked to use their electronic gadgets with great precautions in China, as they can be hacked and later used against us national security. According to a report, the US cyber intelligence units are already investigating 2,000 cases of Chinese espionage.

What does diplomatic boycott mean?

There are about 12 countries including the US, Japan, Canada that have made diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. In simple terms, it means that only athletes will go to participate in the Games. No diplomat or protocol officer will go to Beijing to represent them. Western countries allege that China is the biggest perpetrator of human rights violations in the world. China has called it a white lie.