Tag: China’s | SpinSafe

Xi Jinping calls for China’s biggest military reorganization since 2015 – Firstpost

April 22, 2024/in Internet Security

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Source: AP

As cyber warfare between China and the United States intensifies, Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered what is being touted as the biggest reorganization of the nation’s military since 2015.

With an intention to expand its military capabilities, China terminated the Strategic Support Force and in turn created a new branch called the Information Support Force. This provides China with the ability to bolster its capabilities in several areas including cyber warfare, Xinhua News reported.

It is important to note that Beijing’s now-terminated Strategic Support Force was created more than eight years ago with the aim of enhancing capabilities in space, cyber, political and electronic warfare.

What’s new?

China’s defence ministry maintained that the aerospace and cyber units previously under the Strategic Support Force will now be organizationally parallel to the newly created Information Support Force.

The aerospace unit is expected to improve China’s capability to use space and step up the management of space crises.

While announcing the new re-organisation, Xi reiterated the Communist Party’s leadership over the army. The Chinese President insisted that the new force would provide “key support in coordinating the construction and utilization of the cyber information system.”

According to Xinhua, Li Wei, the political commissar from the now-defunct Strategic Support Force, will take over the same role with the Information Support Force.

Following the announcement, Li pledged to “resolutely” listen to Xi’s instructions. Bi Yi on the other hand was appointed the new commander of the new force.

The change amid a tense climate

The restructuring came as China continues to face off with the US in a fight for global influence with cyberwarfare emerging as a key battleground. Last month, the US, the UK and New Zealand accused China of sponsoring malicious cyber activity and targeting democratic institutions.

Interestingly, the disappearance of the previous commander of the Strategic Support Force Ju Qiansheng, has led to a rise in speculations about the growing turmoil within China’s military leadership.

While Ju recently appeared in the…

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UK, Czech ministers among China’s hacking targets – POLITICO

March 29, 2024/in Computer Security

Among the targets of the attacks: British Minister for Europe Nusrat Ghani, an IPAC member at the time of the attacks who was appointed in her role as minister on Tuesday, and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, also a member of the group.

“This just proves the assessment in our Security Strategy, which states that the rising assertiveness of China is a systemic challenge that needs to be dealt with in coordination with our trans-Atlantic allies,” Lipavský told POLITICO in a comment. The cyberattacks took place about a year before Lipavský became a minister.

Ghani, while a parliament backbencher in 2021, told the U.K. parliament in July 2021 that China hacked IPAC accounts and called on the government to act swiftly. The U.S. indictment says China targeted 43 U.K. parliamentary accounts, most of whom were members of IPAC.

Invited to respond, Ghani did not dismiss she was among the group of politicians that was targeted by the campaign. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not provide a comment in time for publication.

U.S. prosecutors said in their indictment that the Chinese hacking group had conducted cyberattacks on American political and state officials since at least 2015, including by posing as prominent American journalists to trick victims into clicking links that extract information on their whereabouts and digital devices.

The hackers used more harmful software tools in other campaigns targeted at the U.S.; the indictment did not say these tools were used against European targets in the 2021 email campaign targeted at IPAC members.

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China’s technological advances raise security concerns for lawmakers, defense leaders

March 19, 2024/in Internet Security

WASHINGTON (TND) — China’s cyber capabilities are drawing more focus from Congress, U.S. defense and intelligence officials and private businesses as Washington’s relationship with Beijing becomes more adversarial amid stiff economic competition and China’s efforts to expand its influence as a world power.

While there are lingering concerns about a military conflict with China over Taiwan, many of the battles the U.S. is trying to prepare for and prevent do not involve direct altercations that lead to military warfare.

Many of the recent U.S. initiatives are related to limiting China’s access to American-made technology that can be used to advance its military objections, protecting data from falling into the Chinese government’s hands and bolstering cyber defenses amid concerns about Beijing’s advancing capabilities.

The most recent high-profile example is a Congress-led effort to ban the popular video app TikTok over its parent company’s connections to Beijing. A bill passed the House with broad bipartisan margins and President Joe Biden has pledged to sign it if it passes the Senate, which is more uncertain with questions from lawmakers about targeting a specific company and if it will address the root of the issues with TikTok.

The root of the issue with TikTok is a Chinese law that could compel ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to give Americans’ data to China’ intelligence agencies or coerce the app to use its algorithm to sway public discourse. In addition to using its algorithm to create a profile of a user to feed them content they are more likely to stay on the app and watch, people can also opt into sharing more data with TikTok through allowing access to contacts or by simply divulging it in posts on the platform.

TikTok is the most well-known and prominent example of the risks lawmakers and intelligence experts say presents a risk to Americans’ data security, but there are other problems lingering.

Among them is China’s heavy investments and capabilities with blockchain technology. Blockchain is known for its connection to cryptocurrencies but has seen its uses expand with time to cloud-based storage and other applications.

China has invested…

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