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PRC ‘hybrid warfare’ tactics revealed by massive data leak

FORUM Staff

A technology firm tied to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) state security and military has collected detailed personal information on about 2.4 million people worldwide, including military commanders, government officials, politicians and industry leaders, according to investigations of leaked material by an international media consortium in mid-September 2020.

The Chinese company, Shenzhen Zhenhua Data Technology, compiled the data in its Overseas Key Information Database (OKIDB), including information on at least 50,000 United States citizens, such as biographies and service records of U.S. military personnel, 35,000 Australians, 10,000 Indians and 9,500 Britons, as well as news reports and social media posts, according to accounts in the Indian Express, Taiwan News and The Washington Post newspapers.

The leaked records also included details on more than 5,000 Canadians, 2,100 Indonesians, 1,400 Malaysians and 138 people from Papua New Guinea, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC).

“We know the Chinese Communist Party seeks to promote bulk data collection now, with the intent that the ability to process and use it will follow in the future,” Samantha Hoffman, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre, told The Washington Post. “This data set proves that they’re targeting individuals and that social media is an important tool.”

Zhenhua’s website described the company as a trailblazer in using big data for “hybrid warfare,” which is defined as nonmilitary warfare perpetuated by political, economic and technological means, but the claims were removed September 9 after the first news reports, Indian Express reported. Zhenhua also removed website language stating that social media could be weaponized as propaganda to weaken other states, Yahoo! News reported.

The PRC’s Ministry of State Security and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are Zhenhua’s main clients, according to analysts, Taiwan News reported.

A Zhenhua spokeswoman denied that the company has links to the Chinese government or military or that it has a database of 2 million people.

“Our data are all public data on the internet. We do not collect data. This is just a data integration,” said the spokeswoman, who gave only her last name, Sun, according to The Guardian newspaper. “Our customers are research organizations and business groups.”

An Australian cyber security consultancy and an independent researcher provided news organizations with portions of the database analyzed by the OKIDB software.

“Open liberal democracies must consider how best to deal with the very real threats presented by Chinese monitoring of foreign individuals and institutions outside established legal limits,” researcher Christopher Balding told The Washington Post.

“China is known to be building a techno-surveillance authoritarian state domestically,” Balding and the consultancy’s founder, Robert Potter, said in a report on their findings, Taiwan News reported. They said it’s “the first direct evidence” of data collected by the PRC to “monitor foreign individuals and institutions for purposes of intelligence and influence operations.”

The records included information on prominent leaders such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and their families, celebrities, criminals and members of the public, according to news reports.

“China is absolutely building out a massive surveillance state both domestically and internationally,” Balding told the ABC.

Many countries are stepping up efforts to protect their information and their citizens’ privacy. India recently banned more than 175 Chinese-funded mobile apps, including TikTok. The U.S. administration launched The Clean Network in August 2020 to guard sensitive information from malign actors, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). More than 30 countries and territories have joined the program, committing to using trusted vendors in their networks, according to the U.S. Department of State.

“The United States calls on our allies and partners in government and industry around the world to join the growing tide to secure our data from the CCP’s surveillance state and other malign entities,” the department said.

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