21st Century Chinese Cyberwarfare

21st Century Chinese Cyberwarfare

by William Hagestad II
Released March 2012
Publisher(s): IT Governance Publishing
ISBN: 9781849283663

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Book description

Cyber security - A Government, organisational and Public Risk

The 2010 National Security Strategy identified cyber attacks as one of the four highest-priority risks faced by the UK. President In the US, President Obama has declared cyber security as one of the most serious economic and national security challenges the US faces as a nation. While usually targeted on specific government or private sector organisations, cyber attacks can, and will, happen to anyone.

At the lower level, attacks are more widespread and are initially automated and indiscriminate - any organisation with an Internet presence will be scanned, potentially targeted and attacked.

Chinese Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)

There is an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) posed by organised crime and state level entities, targeting large multi-national corporations and foreign governments, with the objective of stealing information or compromising information systems.

The goal of an APT is not necessarily to bring a business down, but to stay embedded and suck information out of it at a slow, undetected pace. This is a major area of concern, in particular the number and severity of APTs coming out of China. The Chinese will use state sponsored 21st Century hacking technology to carry out a campaign of targeting and collecting intelligence against their chosen cyber targets, supporting the information necessary to become the next superpower.

Understand China's cyber warfare

21st Century Chinese Cyber warfare draws from a combination of business, cultural, historical, linguistic and the author's personal experience to attempt to explain China to the uninitiated. The objective of the book is to raise awareness of the fact that the People's Republic of China is using a combination of their unique culture, language, and political will, known as Chinese Communism, to maintain their cultural heritage.

This book is the first to gather the salient information regarding the use of cyber warfare doctrine by the People's Republic of China to promote its own hegemonistic, national self-interests and enforce its political, military and economic will on other nation states. The threat of Chinese Cyberwarfare can no longer be ignored. It is a clear and present danger to the experienced and innocent alike and will be economically, societally and culturally changing and damaging for the nations that are targeted.

21st Century Chinese Cyber warfare discusses:

  • Statistics of the Chinese Cyber Threat.
  • Chinese government cyber initiatives.
  • Understanding the key motivators for government-sponsored cyber warfare.
  • Commercial enterprises as a cyber threat vector.
  • Nationalistic threads of Chinese hackers.

And much, much more.

Essential cyber security reading

Those that will find benefit from the book include: law enforcement agencies, international information security professionals, IT professionals, military professionals, government policy makers and corporate management.

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Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Foreword
  5. Preface
  6. About The Author
  7. Acknowledgements
  8. Contents
  9. Introduction
  10. Glossary
    1. Cyberwarfare Definitions
    2. Types of Hacker
    3. Information Warfare Elements
  11. Chapter 1: The Chinese Cyberthreat
    1. Statistics of the Cyberwarfare Threat
    2. Statistics of the Chinese Cyberwarfare Threat
    3. Conclusions about the Chinese Cyberthreat
  12. Chapter 2: Evolution of Chinese Cyberwarfare
    1. Overview of the Attackers
    2. Communist Party of China (CPC)
    3. People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
    4. State-owned Enterprises (SOE)
    5. Civilian Hackers (Hacktivists)
    6. Motivation of the People’s Republic of China
    7. History & Origins of Information Warfare in the People’s Republic of China
    8. An Overview of Chinese Cyberwarfare
    9. China’s “Cyber Command”
  13. Chapter 3: Chinese Unrestricted Warfare
    1. War Without Limits
    2. Eight Principles of Chinese Unrestricted Warfare
    3. The Challenge of Information Warfare
  14. Chapter 4: Principles of Warfare - West versus East
    1. Warfare - Mapping East to West
    2. “On War” - Carl Von Clausewitz 1780-1831 A.D
    3. “The Art of War” - Sun Tzu 544 - 496 B.C
    4. Principles of Chinese Cyberwarfare
    5. The PLA’s
    6. Chinese Information War Theory and Implementation
  15. Chapter 5: Nature of Information Warfare
  16. Chapter 6: Chinese Cyberwarfare Doctrines
    1. Chinese Cyberwarfare Doctrinal Development
    2. The “Three Warfares” concept
    3. Assassin’s Mace Programs
    4. Major General Dai Qingmin’s Cyberwar
    5. Conclusions
    6. Rules of Engagement: PLA’s Information Dominance
  17. Chapter 7: China’s SIGINT Capabilities
    1. The PLA SIGINT ground stations
    2. Chinese PLA Electronic warfare
  18. Chapter 8: Chinese IW Capabilities
    1. Assessing China’s IW Capabilities
  19. Chapter 9: The Chinese IW Organizational Structure
    1. Key PLA Departments: Integrated Network Electronic Warfare
    2. Technical Reconnaissance Bureaus (TRB)
    3. Military Branch Technical Reconnaissance Bureaus (MB TRB)
    4. Second Artillery Corps (SAC)
    5. Military Region (MR TRB)
    6. Shényáng Military Region
    7. General Staff Department Fourth Department
    8. PLA Information Warfare Militia Units
    9. Ministry of State Security
    10. (MID) Second Department - Intelligence
    11. (MID) Third Department - Intelligence
    12. Eleventh Bureau - Electronic Computers Bureau
    13. PLA Information Engineering University
  20. Chapter 10: Chinese Commercial Enterprises
    1. The PRC’s Economic Leadership
    2. What is a Chinese State-owned Enterprise (SOE)?
    3. China’s SOEs
    4. Western Perspectives on Chinese SOEs
    5. China and Africa
    6. Chinese Telecommunications Companies in Africa
    7. Rare Earth Minerals (REM)
    8. Network Security & Chinese Telco Manufacturers
    9. Conclusions about Chinese SOEs & the Cyberthreat
  21. Chapter 11: Commercial Objectives of Chinese Cyberattacks
    1. China: industry infiltration or data exfiltration?
    2. Commercial Victims of Chinese Cyberattacks?
    3. “Operation Ghost Net”
    4. “Shadows in the Cloud”
    5. “Operation Aurora”
    6. Google, Inc
    7. “Night Dragon”
    8. Multi-National Energy Companies
    9. “Operation Shady RAT”
    10. Apple®
    11. Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Products
    12. International Governments
    13. Germany
    14. France
    15. United Kingdom
    16. Conclusions
  22. Chapter 12: Chinese Civilian Hackers
    1. Chinese Cybermilitias
    2. Chinese Cybersecurity Professionals
  23. Chapter 13: The Chinese Cyberthreat: Conclusions
    1. Computer Security Reference Materials
    2. Conclusions
    3. Recommendations for Next Steps
    4. Cybertargeting: People’s Republic of China
    5. Short-term moves
    6. Long-term moves
  24. Appendix A: China & the Internet – A history
    1. Development of the Internet & Usage Statistics in the People’s Republic of China
    2. Basic Principles & Practices of Chinese Internet Admin
    3. Chinese Internet Regulatory Organizations
    4. Important Timeline of Internet Censorship & Content Control in China
    5. China’s Golden Shield
    6. Green Dam
  25. Appendix B: Chinese Cyberactivism in the Spotlight
    1. History of Chinese Cyberwarfare Attacks
  26. Appendix C: China’s Informization Campaign
  27. Appendix D: General Wang Pufeng’s Challenge of Information Warfare
  28. Appendix E: “Through the Night of the Lantern”
  29. Appendix F: Chinese Hacker Website Resources
  30. Appendix G: Huawei’s Statement on Establishing a Global Cybersecurity Assurance System
  31. Appendix H: PLA’s National Defense University and China’s Cyberwar Preparations
  32. ITG Resources
  33. Bibliography

Product information

  • Title: 21st Century Chinese Cyberwarfare
  • Author(s): William Hagestad II
  • Release date: March 2012
  • Publisher(s): IT Governance Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781849283663