SDIC Intelligence Xiamen Information Co Ltd, a digital forensics company better known as Meiya Pico, won a contract in mid-2023 to build two labs at the Tibet Police College: one on offensive and defensive cyber techniques and the other on electronic evidence collection and analysis. A Chinese state-owned company that was previously sanctioned by the U.S. for facilitating human rights abuses against Uyghurs is now training police officers in Tibet on hacking techniques and digital forensics, according to a watchdog organization. In December 2021, the U.S. Treasury identified Meiya Pico as one of eight entities “support[ing] the biometric surveillance and tracking of ethnic and religious minorities in China.” Two years before, the Commerce Department blacklisted the company for its Xinjiang surveillance activity. “Meiya Pico’s new training lab in Lhasa cuts out the middleman: directly handing local police advanced surveillance capabilities to target Tibetan dissidents at home and abroad,” Walton told Recorded Future News. While Meiya Pico’s involvement in Tibet may not come as a surprise, the contracts indicate a streamlining of surveillance operations, said Turquoise Roof cofounder Greg Walton. Founded in 1999 as an independent company, Meiya Pico is now state-owned, and as of 2019 it reportedly had a 45% market share of China’s digital forensics market. Earlier this month, the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and other international intelligence agencies said hackers are deploying spyware to snoop on Uyghur, Tibetan and Taiwanese individuals and civil society organizations.
This Cyber News was published on therecord.media. Publication date: Wed, 16 Apr 2025 13:15:17 +0000