Internet Attacks And China

All developed countries are engaged in internet attacks - hacking the information systems of other countries. They are also preparing for cyber warfare - for both destructive attack and defence. In the last decade, as a key step in its strategic objective of becoming a military, industrial and financial superpower and emerge from what was still in many respects (even under Chairman Mao) a mediaeval society, China started a group of intelligence initiatives, the results of which are becoming obvious today.

Organisation

In the Chinese worldwide intelligence infrastructure operations, the basic component of the military and economic/political intelligence gathering is the so-called 'deep water fishes'. The term goes back to the early 1980's, and refers to the ten thousand or so intelligence operatives that China has in place in 170 cities across the world. China's internet intelligence gathering and cyberwar operations are even more insidious and pervasive.

Mission

Under the direction of the then President Jiang Zemin, an army of so-called cyberwarriors was set up by General Dai Qingmin to engage in cyberwar. These information systems graduates design Trojan horses, malware, viruses and new intrusion technologies to penetrate and paralyse their enemy's military, civilian infrastructure and commerce in a war situation. They also control the internet in China and its links to the rest of the world, and run the so-called 'Golden Shield' program which monitors all civilian and commerical electronic communication in the country.

Activity

Recently, there have been widespread concerted cyberassualts on commercial websites worldwide. Many commentators believe that China is behind some of these attacks, though those in the Western intelligence services who know the truth are keeping their own counsel. Certainly, there are some in commercial computer security companies who see the evidence, but they will not 'go public' with their knowledge.

Certainly, any country which prepares for warfare of any kind has to test its arsenal, and the Chinese are not the only culprits here. Cyberwarfare is ongoing right now, from simple intelligence gathering by hacking military and commercial databases, right through to assault software used for destructive purposes, including by Western governments.

A Typical (but non-Chinese) Attack

One such example of a software assault is - 'malware'. Insidious, dangerous and highly effective, and illustrated very clearly by the Stuxnet worm. This is thought by some to have been developed jointly by Israel and the USA. The worm circulated freely on the web and apparently had multiple authors on several continents - the trail was designed to confuse and hard to trace back, but clearly false. Finally, in 2010, Stuxnet found its way into the Siemens control programs for the gas centrifuges used in the Iranian uranium enrichment program. Many centrifuges spun out of control and about twenty percent were wrecked. This attack reputedly delayed the Iranian program for a nuclear bomb by years.

This virtual war will become more intense.

Infowar Is Not New

Wherever there was conflict in the 20th century, there was infowar (Winston Churchill noted that 'truth is the first casualty of war'), from false news bulletins to propaganda material dropped from the air. In the 21st century, whenever there is conflict there is cyberwar, and very probably, the Chinese army of cyberwarriors is the most numerous and most active force of its kind in the world.