Internet Attacks By China

Most 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 early 1990's, as a key step in its plan to become 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.

Organisation

In the Chinese global intelligence infrastructure operations, the foundation of the military and economic/political intelligence gathering is the so-called 'deep water fishes'. The term goes back to 1983, and relates to the ten thousand or so intelligence operatives that the country has in place in almost 200 cities around the world. However, its internet intelligence gathering and cyberwar preparations are even more insidious and widespread.

Mission

Under the direction of Jiang Zemin (then President of China), a vast army of so-called cyberwarriors was set up by General Dai Qingmin to organise for cyberwar. These information systems graduates design Trojan horses, malware, viruses and new intrusion technologies to penetrate and paralyse the enemy infrastructure in a war situation. They also control the internet in China (and ultimately forced Google to pull out), and run the so-called 'Golden Shield' program which monitors e-mails, chat and mobile phone SMS in the country.

Activities

Recently, there have been widespread concerted cyberassualts on commercial websites. Many observers believe that China is orchestrating many of these assaults, though those in the Western intelligence services who know the truth are keeping quiet. Certainly, there are experts in commercial computer security companies who see the evidence, but they avoid publicising their knowledge.

Obviously, 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 24 hours a day, from simple intelligence gathering by hacking military, political 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 is the use of malevolent software 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 wandered freely on the web and apparently had several authors on several continents - the trail was well disguised and hard to follow, but clearly false. Eventually, in 2010, Stuxnet found its ultimate home in the German company Siemens's 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 critical assault is said to have set back the Iranian program for a nuclear bomb by several years.

This hidden 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 misleading and plain false news broadcasts to propaganda leaflets dropped from planes. In the 21st century, wherever there is conflict - even asymmetric - there is cyberwar, and arguably, the Chinese army of cyberwarriors is the largest and most active force of its kind in the world.