Episode Details

#204 - Dmitri Alperovitch - China's Cyber Sleeper Cells, Taiwan & The Second Cold War

Published 3 weeks, 4 days ago

Description

Dmitri Alperovitch co-founded CrowdStrike, ran the investigation that first exposed Chinese state hacking to the world and predicted Russia's invasion of Ukraine months before it happened. He is now chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator and the author of World on the Brink, he argues we are already in a second Cold War that looks almost exactly like the first one.

Dmitri and I discuss why Taiwan is one of the worst places on earth to invade, the 1944 American plan to do it that was abandoned as too costly, why 2032 matters more than 2027 and why Chinese malware is already sitting dormant inside American water utilities and power plants waiting for orders.

They also get into the AI race that sits underneath all of it: why 90% of advanced chips still come through Taiwan, why a conflict there wipes $5 trillion off global GDP in the first year, why America's lead over China is measured in months and why the man who built the world's biggest cyber defence company thinks the US should start stealing Chinese IP right back.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 - Sleeper Cells In America's Power Grid

00:01:53 - America Planned To Invade Taiwan In 1944

00:03:56 - The Worst Place On Earth To Invade

00:10:07 - Why 2032 Matters More Than 2027

00:13:20 - Run Faster And Kneecap The Other Guy

00:16:15 - China Is Six To Nine Months Behind

00:18:22 - Why Taiwan Isn't Ready

00:20:21 - There Will Be No Insurgency

00:24:47 - Would America Actually Fight?

00:27:19 - The Google Hack That Started It All