Chinese Cyberwarfare by James Marinero
Most developed countries certainly engage in internet attacks – hacking the information systems of other countries. They are also testing weapons for cyber warfare – for both destructive attack and defence. In the last decade, as part of 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 instigated a series of programs, the results of which are making the news on a regular basis.
Structure and Size
In the Chinese worldwide intelligence infrastructure operations, the basic component of the military and economic/political intelligence ‘vacuum cleaner’ as they call it is the so-called ‘deep water fishes’. The term goes back to the early 1980′s, and refers to the 10,000 or so agents that China has in place in 170 cities around the world. China’s internet intelligence gathering and cyberwar operations are even more insidious and widespread.
Scope
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 infowar. The cyberwarriors design spam, malware, distributed denial of service and viruses 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 e-mails, chat and mobile phone SMS within its borders.
Activity
Recently, there have been massive and well-coordinated cyberassualts on commercial websites worldwide. Many observers believe that China is behind some of these attacks, though those in the Western intelligence organisations (such as the DIA in the US) who know the truth are keeping quiet. Certainly, there are experts in commercial computer security companies who see the evidence, but they will not ‘go public’ with their knowledge.
Obviously, any country which is preparing for warfare of any kind has to test its arsenal, and the Chinese are not the only culprits here. Cyberwarfare is ongoing 24 hours a day, from basic intelligence gathering by hacking military, political and commercial databases, right through to offensive use 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 around the internet and apparently had several authors on several continents – the trail was well disguised and hard to follow, but clearly bogus. Eventually, in 2010, the virulent worm found its ultimate home in the Siemens control programs for the gas centrifuges used in the Iranian uranium enrichment program. Many centrifuges spun uncontrolled and about twenty percent were wrecked. This attack reputedly delayed the Iranian program for a nuclear bomb by years.
This hidden war will intensify.
Infowar Is Not New
Wherever there was conflict in the 20th century, there was infowar (Churchill noted that ‘truth is the first casualty of war’), from misleading and plain false news bulletins to propaganda material dropped from the air. In the 21st century, whenever there is conflict – even asymmetric – there is cyberwar, and very probably, the Chinese army of cyberwarriors is the largest and most active such army in the world.
James Marinero writes topical techno-thrillers in a global political context. His latest, ‘Gate of Tears’ looks at Chinese cyberwar, naval growth and financial power, set in the political hotspot of the Yemen and Red Sea. It is now available on Kindle too. www.jamesmarinero.com
Article Source: http://www.earticlesonline.com/Article/Chinese-Cyberwarfare/1194613
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