The Dark Side of China: The Evolution of a Global Cyber Power

SINGAPORE – August 31, 2020 – IntSights, the threat intelligence company focused on enabling enterprises to Defend Forward, today released a research report exploring how China’s cyber operations are evolving to fit the dynamic digital landscape and to achieve its objectives for growth and expansion of the government’s ideals.

Researchers as IntSights have analysed the country’s strategic intelligence priorities and its targets to understand how to defend against China’s cyber threats.

China’s cyber arm has evolved significantly since the first advanced persistent threat (APT) groups were discovered over a decade ago, and IntSights’ researchers have found that Chinese state-sponsored threat actors have been attributed to hundreds of attacks in over 20 countries and countless industries around the world.

The report analyses several of China’s cybersecurity targets in Asia Pacific including in India, which saw a June 2020 conflict in the disputed border territory of Galwan Valley between India and China escalating to cyberattacks.

During this time, Indian police reported a 300% increase over normal cyberattack levels originating from China, including Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, phishing attempts and malware attacks on India’s critical infrastructure.

Other key findings include:

• The increase in cyber operations on cultural and religious organisations that includes the monitoring and oppression of minorities through high-tech digital surveillance, exploitation campaigns, exploitation of vulnerabilities in Android operating systems that is commonly used among the minority population, etc.

• Surveillance and espionage through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to gain market and military advantages such as its domestic social credit system where the state monitors its population for negative and positive behaviour that affects citizens’ social credits scores

• The rise of software supply chain attacks carried out by state-sponsored hacking group APT41, through a hidden malicious code within apps and software updates. Such attacks allow for spying on users’ behaviour, logging keystrokes to steal credentials, monitoring cameras and microphones, and taking control of the device remotely, and has caused more than six companies to suffer. This includes
  • Korean enterprise remote administration tool, NetSarang, with over 700,000 machines compromised
  • Taiwanese computer company, Asus, with over 600,000 machines affected

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China has taken the reins as the world’s preeminent cyber power, evolving into a dynamic force capable of attacking and disrupting its economic and military adversaries while dominating weaker nations it seeks to control. Recent research indicates that China is shifting its cyber objectives, targets, and tactics, demonstrating its intent to exert its influence over the dynamic global digital landscape.