Notes

The United States has Just Called China out for Hacking. Here's what you Need to Know

What is important: How much of a matter that the US and its allies accuse China of widespread cyberspace misdeeds?



BF: It's quite a important thing. One reason is that until this point, the Biden administration has been more focused on Russian hacking than on Chinese hacking, which increases the visibility of malicious Chinese cyber activities. Another reason is that while prior US administrations were willing to speak out against China hacking, it's noteworthy that the US has gotten numerous countries and allies involved this time.



This is the first time that NATO has condemned Chinese cyberattacks. And there are many countries within NATO who have a complicated relationship with China that they don't wish to upset, so cybersecurity experts consider it an accomplishment for the US in being able to present a unified front. The coordinated accusations also set the stage for future sanctions which could lead to further sanctions.



What Matters: An official spoke to CNN that China's activities include "cyber-enabled extortion, crypto-jacking and theft from victims across the globe for financial gain" and ransomware-related attacks. What is the severity of these activities?



BF: As we've seen in the past with pipelines for oil and meatpacking and ransomware, it's a significant issue right now that can have devastating effects when the proper precautions aren't taken. Crypto-jacking, which refers to the use of malicious software to take the resources of a computer and then generate cryptocurrency, is less popular, but shows how inventive hackers can become in making money from their victims.



Monday's Biden administration referred to the actors as "criminal contract hackers" who hack for Beijing but also for their personal profit.



What's important: Biden stated that he does not intend to impose sanctions on China as his team continues to look into the extent of Beijing’s actions. What's the process for these investigations? And why is it taking so long?



BF: Hackers can use cloud-based servers and virtual private networks and other tricks to conceal their true location which makes it difficult to trace any cyberattack back to its source. Experts typically have to employ sophisticated forensic techniques, such as analysing code fragments and looking for patterns to make an educated guess about who might be responsible. Even then, officials usually refuse to attribute the attack to any specific group by affirming how confident and secure they are.



In this instance, US officials said they have a high level of conviction that Chinese state-sponsored hackers are responsible for the Microsoft Exchange hacks and other criminal cyber activities.



What is important: What weaknesses have the cyberattacks against America exposed?



BF: These are the same security vulnerabilities that information security experts warn of. According to the Department of Homeland Security Chinese hackers have tried to track targets in aerospace, education defense, defense, education, manufacturing, health care and other key economic sectors. A majority of instances involve Chinese hackers trying to steal intellectual property or trade secrets. The Justice Department announced this week that a number of other suspect Chinese hackers were charged.



What is important What is the most important thing to be paying attention to as they move forward?



BF: US officials are urging businesses and organizations to keep their systems and software up-to-date, to develop emergency plans in case they do get hacked and to have offline backups that they can use to recover from ransomware attacks without paying their hackers.
Mccainsource


Be aware of any additional punitive actions by the US and its allies towards China, and any impact that this could affect the vital and complicated economic relations between these two countries.


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