Chinese nationalist groups are launching cyber-attacks – often against the wishes of the government

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 13:31:26 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/chinese-nationalist-groups-are-launching-cyber-attacks-often-against-the-wishes-of-the-government-229785>

"The UK’s national security agency, MI5, warned in April that British
universities participating in military research are targets for cyber-attacks
by foreign states. More recently, news broke of a cyber-attack against the UK’s
Ministry of Defence, which exposed the personal details of 270,000 armed forces
personnel. China is the main suspect behind these attacks.

China is often presented as a monolithic entity, entirely at the whim of the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, the reality is more complex. Many
Chinese cyber-attacks and other kinds of digital interference are conducted by
Chinese nationalist groups.

Some of these groups are funded by and act under the direction of the CCP. The
50 Cent Army (五毛党), for example, is a group who post pro-CCP messages on social
media. Its name is derived from reports that the CCP pays recruits 0.5 yuan
(US$0.69) per post.

But many of these groups operate independently. There are even cases of Chinese
nationalist groups engaging in online warfare against the wishes of the CCP.

The fact that cyber-attacks are being launched independently of the CCP and
against its directives suggests that China’s nationalist movement is escaping
the government’s societal controls. This could become a headache for China’s
president, Xi Jinping, as the number of cyber-attacks grows."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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