Minor point but this doesn't only have to be russian/chinese spies but rather this can be anybody including say the UK/Israel or even countries which can be considered "allies"

I'd also be surprised if this code isn't already available with the US forces too and sometimes the enemy can be from within too.

> The reason why this works is because stuff is expensive and eventually national pride and sense crumble to whatever needs you have for technology

Yes China gets soft power within the region of Neutral / allies but it can never get soft power over an enemy nation.

> Most of the stories in the 20th century of countries bankrolling ventures in other countries for nefarious purposes were mostly done on a shoestring budget that could be hidden from Congress

It's essentially a matter of secrecy then? I can find some ways to think to find money to be hidden from congress

Find Billionaires/Millionaires who lobby you and your nation and give them better national contract deals if they can secretly use their own private money and drop into technically that nation's offshore's accounts and then have that money combined with spies transfer in such a way that nobody (not even journalists can trace routes), Have them take loans from banks of their stocks price or assets that you prefer and give them preferential lending. Plus points if the billionaire/millionaire can himself be a "spy"

Suppose that offshore account converts to crypto like monero or just somehow launders it in a hard to find way with one offshore account to another with monero in between and then have that second offshore account somehow transfer that money gradually into VC operated by spies.

Think about it, You spend billions trying to have neutral allies be on your side but in conflicts of war, yes they would be beneficial but how much more beneficial would be to have access to the enemy side of security as in the case we are discussing and with just a few loops its definitely possible to hide money and be have secrecy

The best part is that even if this adds malware into the enemy nation's country, when you try to find who ran the malware, its all done in anonymous way to the general public but chances of this being the case can be very high especially given that those were air-gapped systems.

So the public is intentionally hidden this stuff from. We can't go and say that we are giving money to buy security companies from a spy network we have in enemy country to trick them into thinking that they are more safe and have them be compromised.

It would be a general outrage because the consequences would be far and reaching.

But what you can say is that we have somehow had a malware added into their air-gapped systems through various methods and have people be speculating how.

Israel is telling that their camera feeds are compromised. I don't think Iran uses an israeli company for camera feed security purposes. Most likely they use either Irani company or Saudi Arabia company if possible.

If Israel is literally saying this on public news that their feeds are compromised and isn't telling how, this does seem to be a plausible explaination of trying to infiltrate their security networks one way or the other.

Also can't say about congress but Israel is known for very secretive operations from Mossad. Money shouldn't be problem for those guys most likely.

Also there is one point to be said that even if a country can be ally, then you can have something like the belt road initiative too or if your country has lots of money/power then maybe even setup a few of these things in your ally country as you never know how the waves can change of a country from ally to enemy and vice versa.

But why would say Iran take security or software from a company which could be funded In-Q-Tel for example

I mean thanks for the share, but this proves my suspicion even more because if In-Q-Tel/CIA are able to have a public company which does it. And CIA isn't hesitant of having spies. The dangerous combination of two is definitely possible.

Obviously its still suspicion but still. Might I know what your thoughts are on it too?

One of the things I have wondered is why a country would not create an company or VC network from people (spy agents) who for all intents and purposes look like normal citizens of any other country (perhaps even in the enemy country itself) and then just have the Country siphon off some money into that VC to buy some companies.

The fact of the matter is that you can see an Israeli connection to VPN companies like express vpn, cyberghost vpn (the israeli billionaire who owns this has donated to IDF for context iirc)

This is what is happening in the front page. Why wouldn't a nation want to create a VC network which can buy large companies in security industry in neutral countries (germany,switzerland etc.)

People would be none the wiser if this actually happens and the head VC network considering that they can just buy security options and would be even able to sell them sometimes to even their enemy state themselves.

A part of me is worried talking about this idea might give states ideas. Another part of me believes is that this might already be happening.

For record, I am not against Venture capitalism for context, but the opportunity presented by it in the context of governments spending money secretly to buy security related companies in terms of a VC network to then have the same contract with foreign enemy company feels complicated but feels to me easy enough for a nation actor to pull.

This can also not be just a single VC but can be spread across many for example.

Are we certain that this might be what could've happened in this case, I suppose not but there might be a non zero chance.

And we are already discounting the fact that in the case of isreal, sometimes they don't even do this and have it be an israeli company itself. What if they might do it to present two options: say an israeli and a german option. But both options might be tampered (I am absolutely not saying this is the case but I am just presenting a mere hypothetical)

Given the absolute budget of governments for these things and the fact that Govt. hires people so much smarter than me. Surely they must have thought of this and if that's the case then if the plan is working as intended and its hidden and public doesn't know about it and if its hidden/public doesn't know about it, the plan is working as intended.

That being said, It wouldn't be wrong to say that this feels more like a conspiracy theory. I genuinely hope I am wrong tho but why would a govt. give up on such a massive thing

Once again, This is just a thought experiment and let's keep the discussion civil. I am not against Venture Capitalism.

Is this something strictly with the US currency notes or is the same true for other countries currency as well?