Chinese National Caught At Mar-a-Lago with Computer Malware

[GURPS]

Authorities say that a woman, most likely a Chinese national, holding a Chinese passport, attempted to elude security and sneak onto Mar-a-Lago grounds over the weekend, carrying a laptop police say was filled with "malware," perhaps designed to try to tap into secure technology installed at the president's Florida home.

"[A]ccording to a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of Florida, 32-year-old Zhang made it through checkpoints and all the way to the main reception area of the Mar-a-Lago club before she was stopped from going any further when a receptionist determined she wasn't on an approved guest list. Secret Service agents did halt her at multiple points to question her purpose for being there," CBS reports.

President Trump was staying at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, but reportedly missed out on the action. He left to play golf around 9:30 am and did not return to the main house until at after 3:00 pm. The Chinese woman, now identified as 32-year-old Yujing Zhang, was caught trying to sneak into the club just after noon Florida time.


https://www.dailywire.com/news/45515/congressman-briefed-after-chinese-woman-malware-emily-zanotti

 

[Kyle]

Did Feinstein visit with a new driver?

 

[This_person]

...Zhang made it through checkpoints and all the way to the main reception area of the Mar-a-Lago club before she was stopped from going any further when a receptionist determined she wasn't on an approved guest list."

Sounds like Trump has yet another thing going better than the Obama administration - they have people who actually control and use guest lists properly.

 

[TCROW]

Privateer?

 

[Kyle]

Secret Service agents did halt her at multiple points to question her purpose for being there," CBS reports.

And yet she made it past them to utimately get stopped by a receptionist.

 

[glhs837]

Privateer?

Nah, unwitting stooge or straight deniable sent to probe.

 

[Yooper]

This is kinda interesting.

In many respects this is similar to the case of the Russian currently on trial in Ukraine for murder. What we have learned is that the GRU employed him (for cash) to be the stooge/fall guy. He was a cut-out. Seems, at face value, this may be what Zhang is. Or she's playing coy.

But if asked to bet, I would go with the former. It would be dumb for China to do this, so employing Zhang as a cut-out would allow for the "Charles option": that Zhang was actually being employed by the Russians, Israelis, Brits, etc. with the hope that if she was caught China would be blamed. But there is also the very good case to be made that it was China and this is a "no way would we be that stupid; clearly this is a 'Charles option; the Russians, Israelis, Brits, etc. are responsible." Welcome to the Wilderness of Mirrors!

But back to the article. I didn't like one aspect of this:

Federal agents, the Miami-Herald reports, are now looking into whether Zhang, who was "previously unknown to law enforcement" might be part of a larger Chinese counter-intelligence operation designed to infiltrate the president's Florida residence, perhaps on the theory that Mar-a-Lago has less security than the president's home and office in Washington, D.C.

If Zheng's operation is part of a larger counter-intelligence move, though, China isn't hiring the best and brightest. When confronted, Zheng first claimed to be a member of Mar-a-Lago, then told security personnel she was just there to use the pool. Finally, when pressed, she claimed to be an attendee of a United Nations-organized "friendship event" at the mansion — an event that didn't exist — at the behest of a man named "Charles" whom she'd contacted on a Chinese texting app.

Technically, unless I missed something, this is an offensive intel op. That would make it straight intel, not counter-intel. What we are doing now to/re her is counter-intel.

--- End of line (MCP)

 

[Yooper]

And yet she made it past them to utimately get stopped by a receptionist.

Having worked with the Secret Service, this appears bad, but appearances might be deceiving. She (Zhang) probably played the "hotel" angle well enough that the Secret Service would have thought to defer "stuff" (like her) to hotel management.

There's also the very high probability that there's far more to the story. Also, a possibility that we are getting the story the investigators want us to be reading (for CI purposes).

--- End of line (MCP)

 

[GURPS]

Well she was working for someone .....


I am sure Various 3 letter agencies have already identified the source of the 'malware' .....

 

[Yooper]

the source of the 'malware' .....

I would LOVE to be in on that working group.

--- End of line (MCP)

 

[TCROW]

Well she was working for someone .....


I am sure Various 3 letter agencies have already identified the source of the 'malware' .....

Assuming one of the TLAs aren’t the actual source of the malware.

 

[Yooper]

Wow. Now this is an update....

Cache of nine USB drives, five SIM cards, and thousands in cash also found

The woman from China arrested while carrying a USB drive containing malware at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last month had another phone, nine USB drives, five SIM cards, and a device used to detect hidden cameras all stored in her hotel room, federal prosecutors have claimed. The New York Times reports that investigators also found several credit and debit cards and $8,000 in cash, including $700 in Chinese currency. The findings came to light during a bond hearing ahead of her trial.

When a computer analyst tried to review this USB thumb drive he had to immediately shut down his computer to prevent it from being corrupted, according to a Secret Service agent who testified at the bond hearing. It was “very out of the ordinary,” said the agent according to CNN.

Link: "Chinese woman arrested at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort had a device to detect hidden cameras"

--- End of line (MCP)

 

[GURPS]

When a computer analyst tried to review this USB thumb drive he had to immediately shut down his computer to prevent it from being corrupted,
--- End of line (MCP)

are these agents really that clueless

 

[Yooper]

are these agents really that clueless

Apparently - and in response to the criticisms about this - the computer was not networked connected. I assume also it was pre-loaded with analysis tools but would have been considered a throw-away machine for just this type of issue.

That's what I would have done.... But then again, I learned my BSG-75* lessons the hard way (having died in a previous life on Caprica).

--- End of line (MCP)


* This would be a sci-fi ref to "Battlestar Galactica."

 

[TCROW]

are these agents really that clueless

If the USB slots weren’t meant to have drives shoved into them they would have been disabled. Certainly this was a machine airgapped from any network resources and there’s nothing clueless about what the agent did in this scenario.

 

[GWguy]

If the USB slots weren’t meant to have drives shoved into them they would have been disabled. Certainly this was a machine airgapped from any network resources and there’s nothing clueless about what the agent did in this scenario.

He panicked. There was no need to shut it down. What was it going to hurt? If it was an expendable air-gapped machine, I would have let it run it's course and performed a post-mortem.

 

[TCROW]

He panicked. There was no need to shut it down. What was it going to hurt? If it was an expendable air-gapped machine, I would have let it run it's course and performed a post-mortem.

Sure, but that quote comes courtesy of CNN. I don’t have a high degree of confidence in their tech reporting.

 

[Yooper]

For those who haven't yet clicked over, here's the Secret Service statement. I don't think anyone did anything wrong (even the agent when he did a quick shut down):

Assertions that U.S. Secret Service agents are incompetent to carry out forensic examinations on digital media (ie thumbdrives, laptops, cellphones, etc.) is outlandish and not rooted in fact. The Secret Service Electronic Crimes Special Agent Program (ECSAP) is internationally recognized and special agents across the agency receive extensive training in computer forensics and undergo a rigorous certification process. Forensic examinations conducted by these personnel are done in accordance with U.S. Secret Service standard operating policies and procedures. Secret Service forensic examinations are conducted on standalone computers, equipped with specialized forensic software, which are not connected to Secret Service networks.

I think the "panic" may have been caused due to being predisposed to thinking Zhang was harmless. But when the laptop started being boinky.... Think of a cat or dog jumping up and back when surprised.

--- End of line (MCP)

 

[Yooper]

This is going to turn out to be a BIG DEAL.

Zhang is no harmless, "oops I didn't mean to be here" tourist.

But who mailed her...?

Would that I could be back on active duty and somehow finagle myself into the debrief/analysis conference room....

--- End of line (MCP)

 

[GURPS]

Assertions that U.S. Secret Service agents are incompetent to carry out forensic examinations on digital media (ie thumbdrives, laptops, cellphones, etc.) is outlandish and not rooted in fact.

Me Think The Lady Doth Protest Too Much

This is going to turn out to be a BIG DEAL.

But is it
Domestic -i.e. DNC Run OP [or other Progressive Group trying to get dirt on Trump]
Foreign - False Flag - i.e. the Russians did it blame the Chinese
Foreign - the Chinese were behind it