In recent months the information systems of Western countries have been the victims of virulent attacks emanating from the People’s Re-public of China. Whether organised by the People’s Liberation Army or not, there is no doubt that they come from high-level hackers with considerable technical and financial resources, backed up by detailed information on the infrastructure of their targets. These intrusions are complicated to achieve and cannot be improvised. It is much more difficult to launch an attack with the aim of gathering confidential or classified information than to destroy enemy servers, as was the case in Estonia.
Cyberconflict: towards the First Cyberwar
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has long suffered from an inadequate and outdated telecommunications systems infrastructure. To correct this important deficiency, the PLA has invested heavily in C4I,(1) with the acquisition of the latest technological equipment from the best foreign manufacturers. These enterprises are attracted by the largest market in the world and have been sucked into unrestricted trade with China. Motorola, Lucent, Nokia, Ericsson, AT&T among many others have been seduced by a budget varying between $15 and $20 billion per year.(2) The joint ventures that are compulsory for any foreign company wishing to set up in China, have allowed the PLA, which controls the majority of the telecommunications infrastructure, to accelerate the process of bringing their obsolete technology up-to-date.
Commercial partnerships are vital for the PLA. Agreements cover transfers of technology and capabilities which will probably enable China to catch up and soon be in a position to use its resources fully for military and civilian purposes. Electronic information warfare forms an integral part of the PLA programme.
According to Nan Li(3) of Harvard University, the PLA is working on the interruption of satellite and cable communications, and radio transmissions. The neutralisation of enemy communications systems forms part of the ‘Dian Xue’ method which, in martial arts, enables an enemy to be defeated by attacking a single vital point. The attack of electronic infrastructures by a virus or a magnetic bomb is considered as a basic step in a possible conflict with a foreign power.
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