Chinese Cybersecurity and Cyberdefense

7

China-Iran-Russia – A Cybercommunity of Information?

In China, the proliferation of cybernetic attacks and counter-attacks, at first glance, looks like chaos caused exclusively by individual interests: kleptomaniacs steal data or paralyze their competitors, whilst private security companies try to keep them from doing so. On the face of it, this is the situation. However, if we dig deeper into the question, notably attaching credence to China’s latest declarations, we see that many of the world’s cyberconflicts take place across a dividing line, with the United States and their Oceanic allies on one side and three continental powers – China, Iran and Russia – on the other. This raises the following question: are China, Iran and Russia all individually and independently concerned with their cybersecurity, or is there actually some sort of cooperation between these states? The following viewpoint will be defended in this chapter: China’s cyberdefense strategy is based increasingly on two Asiatic partners: Iran and Russia. This nascent cooperation results in the discreet emergence of a veritable community of information (or of disinformation, depending on the point of view). Indeed, China’s cyber-strategy is inextricably linked to the increasing geopolitical closeness of China, Iran and Russia. However, this strategic evolution should not be exaggerated, as the primary goal of Chinese cyberdefense is not predation, but rather the maintenance of internal order.

7.1. The hall marks ...