Dr.Thomas (Special Correspondent)
Global politics is a mind game—and China is coming in strong.In today’s age,when digital connections are as integral to a country’s security as physical boundaries, China’s hands are glued to the keyboard.
For a nation, cybersecurity is one of its crucial pillars. From security plans to personal information of diplomats and citizens, digital servers hold every detail.
China has earned a name by infiltrating other countries’ networks to target their economies. China’s hacking fiascos are not new;the country has been making cyber moves for decades.
One of the earliest recorded moments of China’s cybercrimes dates back to early 2003 when Chinese hackers targeted US computer networks Known as ‘Titan Rain,’the incident affected various US corporations,including Lockheed Martin,Sandia National Laboratories,Redstone Arsenal,and NASA.
Fast-forward five years, and reports of Chinese networks attacking White House computers surfaced.
Around the same time, the Ministry of External Affairs in India reported compromised computers of some government officials in New Delhi.
According to the Ministry, the IP addresses that targeted the computer were traced back to China.The US,UK,Australian,and Russian governments also pointed fingers at China for attempting to steal confidential information.
In another widely broadcasted news, Google shocked the world in 2010. Cyberattacks on countries and established corporations are old news.
However,a decade ago,it was uncommon for organisations to announce it publicly.Defying the norm, the most commonly used search engine disclosed that it and other firms were the targets of
Chinese-originated cybercrimes.
Speaking of the attack, Google said the attempted data breach did not affect Google applications and related customer information.
“The route the attackers used was malicious software used to infect personal computers,” said the search engine in a blog post.
Google reported the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists were targeted.Following the data breach, the search engine broke ties with China’s web results and market.
In March 2022, Chinese hackers attempted to hack the conflict immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine. According to Google research and Proofpoint, a cybersecurity company, a Chinese group called Mustang Panda, used the Russia-Ukraine conflict to lure European authorities using cyber tricks and schemes.
Proofpoint’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) tracked phishing emails containing harmful links and zip files titled ‘Situation at the EU borders with Ukrain.zip.’
Upon downloading, the zip files loaded several unauthorised files on the computers, targeting information stored on the device.
TAG alerted relevant and involved firms to prevent damage.
Moving to Canada, Canadian authorities disclosed that suspected Chinese hackers hacked one of the country’s popular software.
The software distributor, a small Canadian customer service company, was the target of China’s attacks.
The US cybersecurity organisation CrowdStrike discovered harmful software shared by Comm100, a Vancouver-based firm.The firm unknowingly delivered tampered chatbots and social media tools to clients worldwide.
In politics, one must sleep with one eye open—and China has, time and again, supported this statement. Russia’s military and development research centres received emails on March 23,which contained a list of people under US sanctions for leaving Ukraine.
The sender had Russia’s Ministry of Health’s signature. However, upon investigation, the senders turned out to be state-approved hackers in China.
According to Check Point, an Israeli-American cybersecurity organisation, Chinese hackers attempted to target Russian firms using malware-infested documents.
The report provided evidence of China spying on Russia, causing the nation to question its relationship with China, which seemed strong given its united front with China against the United States.
The report also mentioned China’s cyberattack tactics to obtain information on its allies, such as Russia.
