Forestalling a cyber Pearl Harbour
Context: The threat posed to key Indian entities by antagonistic forces such as China is beginning to merit critical attention in all the right quarters. This follows revelations by the U.S.-based cyber security firm, Recorded Future, which were carried by the media in the United States.
Background:
- According to a despatch by The New York Times, in the lead-up to the India-China border clashes, Recorded Future had found an increase in malware attacks targeting the Indian government, defence organisations and the public sector.
- Also, coinciding with Chinese incursions in Eastern Ladakh, certain Indian power facilities had been targets of a cyber attack.
- Furthermore, there was still some evidence of ongoing intrusions, though the intensity of the activity appeared to have ceased by mid-February 2021.
Wake up call:
- The reported events are a wake-up call for India, and it would be a grievous error if India were to underestimate the extent of the cyber threat posed to it by China.
- Indian government agencies may have more information on China’s aggressive cyber campaign, but if what Recorded Future has indicated is true, concentrating on infrastructure targets, including the power sector and ports, then India needs to be on its guard.
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AXIOMATICASYMPTOTE: Its servers are known to be used by RedEcho, a China-linked activity group, that targets India’s power sector, and facilitates the employment of a malware known as ShadowPad. ● ShadowPad is a network intrusion malware affiliated to both the Chinese Ministry of State Security and the People’s Liberation Army. ● ShadowPad is depicted as a back-door ‘Trojan’ malware which creates a secret path from a targeted system to a command and control server to extract information. ● If indeed the future is digital, and if China has indeed embarked on an all-out offensive of this nature, India needs to adopt comprehensive measures to forestall a potential ‘Cyber Pearl Harbour’, as far as India is concerned. |
An offensive by China:
- Across the world, Beijing does appear to be engaged in a major cyber offensive, directed not only against countries like India but against many advanced nations as well.
- Chinese cyber espionage sets no limitations on targets. Towards the end of 2020, and as the world prepared for large-scale deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, their attention was directed to vaccine distribution supply chains around the world.
- A global ‘spearphishing campaign’ targeting organisations responsible for vaccine storage and transportation was reportedly unleashed, and while concrete evidence as to which country was indeed responsible for this is not available, the shadow of suspicion has fallen mainly on Chinese hackers.
Cyber warfare by others:
- Many other countries, including the U.S. and Russia, do engage in the same kind of cyber warfare.
- The U.S. has extensively publicised Russia’s cyber antics from time to time. Best known are accusations of Russia’s cyber interference in the U.S. presidential elections in 2016, which approached the level of a major scandal.
Part of Beijing’s world view
- From an Indian perspective, the Chinese cyber threat could prove to be truly daunting.
- China’s analysis of the state of current relations between China and India is that they remain antagonistic to the point of ‘de-coupling’, and the confrontation between Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ‘Community with shared future for mankind’ and India’s current posture could lead to a ‘long period of volatility’.
- As India grows closer to the U.S., this gap between the two key Asian nations can be expected to become still wider.
Conclusion:
- Under Mr. Xi, China has forged a firm nexus between authoritarianism, global ambitions and technology, and is determined to transform the global order to advance its interests.
- ‘Cyber’ could well be one of China’s main threat vectors employed against countries that do not fall in line with China’s world view.
- China’s 2021 Defence Budget (amounting to $209 billion) gives special weightage to the Strategic Support Force (SSF), which embraces cyber warfare — an ominous portent that bodes little good for countries that posit a challenge to China’s ambitions, such as India. Drawing up a comprehensive cyber strategy, one that fully acknowledges the extent of the cyber threat from China, has thus become an imperative and immediate necessity.
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