ISoon is part of an ecosystem of contractors that emerged out of a “patriotic” hacking scene established over two decades ago and now works for a range of powerful government entities including the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security and the Chinese military.
Thursday, February 22, 2024
PMT: China's not-so-subtle attack
In 2024, much of what was warfare is now fought out on the internet, through cyber-attacks sponsored by hostile nations. They don't bomb a power station to disable it; instead they make it inoperable by taking it off-line.
According to the Washington Post, the Chinese are becoming the bold world leaders at this game. Recently, a tranche of documents was leaked revealing some of the tools and methods they use. The documents are from a private company that contracts with the Chinese government to extract information or disrupt operations all over the world, from India to the United States. Here is part of how the Post described the operation:
According to U.S. officials, hackers with the People’s Liberation Army have breached computer systems in about two dozen key American infrastructure entities over the past year in an attempt to establish a foothold and be able to disrupt power and water utilities as well as communications and transportation system.
Intriguingly, one of the services offered to the Chinese government was to manipulate discussions on Twitter.
Some of these operations are pretty transparent. Ever wonder why that woman you don't know Facebook suddenly finds your Facebook posts fascinating and wants to know more, IPLawGuy? I think we know...
