A.P. Richelieu
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https://www.dn.se/ekonomi/foi-rapport-omfattande-kinesiskt-cyberspionage-mot-sverige/
(Google Translate)
The Chinese regime is linked for the first time in a new report from FOI to extensive industrial cyber espionage against Sweden. Photo: Heiko Junge / TT
The Chinese regime is linked for the first time in a new report from FOI to extensive industrial cyber espionage against Sweden.
Swedish companies are far ahead in many areas that China wants to develop in - it is, for example, about cutting-edge knowledge in business areas such as electronics, IT, aerospace and robotics.
China's strategic goal is to car a world-leading manufacturer of high-tech products, and also a high-tech military superpower.
According to a report from FOI, the Swedish Defense Research Institute, which is based on only open sources, it makes Sweden particularly exposed to industrial cyber espionage from China, especially as Sweden is an open and innovative economy, and to a large extent digitized.
- What I have found is that cyber espionage is one of several methods that China uses to achieve its strategic objectives. There are legal methods such as corporate acquisitions, research collaborations and hiring foreign experts, but also illegal cyber espionage, says analyst Johan Englund, who wrote the report.
It is the first time that a Swedish authority has openly linked the Chinese regime to industrial cyber espionage in Sweden, although FRA has previously made suggestions, and Säpo in its latest annual report mentions China as a player engaged in cyber attacks.
An example of how the cyber espionage goes to is the so-called Cloud Hopper deal, which was revealed by the audit firm PWC 2016.
There, Chinese hackers had entered into network operators providing cloud services to businesses, and using false e-mailing, so-called phishing, spread malicious code to the companies that used the cloud services.
- The purpose is to come across know-how, map out which people are sitting on which positions and can ask certain questions, get hold of blueprints of technological business information. That's what you want, technological information you need for your industries.
The fact that China is behind is considered to be proven, among other things, by the fact that American cybersecurity companies tracked the sources of data intrusion, basically all the way to government buildings in China.
- In itself, there are also private hackers in China, who want information to sell it and make money, but in many cases they have been linked to the regime. Previously, it was industrial linked to the PLA, the Chinese army, but later indications indicate that the industrial espionage generally comes from actors at the Ministry of State Security.
Although it is in the nature of the fact that one cannot say to 100% certain that it is the state behind, the data is confirmed by the fact that many security services mention China as an actor engaged in industrial cyber espionage.
Indirectly, Swedish intelligence authorities and politicians have also pointed out China by mentioning the hacker group APT10 as responsible for the Cloud Hopper attack.
The APT10 is described as one of China's state-sponsored players by the cyber security company Mandiant.
- It's just to put together one plus one, says Johan Englund.
The affected countries in the Cloud Hopper spy team in 2016 were the United States, Norway, Finland, Sweden, the UK and Japan, and the industries were in areas such as IT, energy, mining, finance, medicine, defense industry and public activities.
The APT10 also supported cyber espionage in 2018 against Sweden, Finland, France, Germany and the UK in sectors such as aerospace, medicine, finance, electronics and telecom industry.
According to the report, the effects of the industrial espionage against Sweden can be very costly, and ultimately hit the Swedish companies' competitiveness and the country's welfare.
- Data from the United States, which one must be a little careful with, as they can have their own agenda here, indicates that this is an astronomical amount, the range is estimated at between 225 and 600 billion dollars which the United States is expected to lose on it Chinese cyber espionage.
According to these statistics, China accounts for 50-80 percent of the cross-border cyber espionage in the world.
How big the industrial cyber espionage is in Sweden is difficult to say.
- It is likely that the problems are underestimated because it is expected that a lot of intrusions do not get reported. The companies do not want to admit that they have been exposed to information theft because it looks bad in the eyes of customers, they appear less reliable.
In China, a large part of the high-tech products are sold in the West. A danger that is being warned for now, and as the business information company Bloomberg gave an example in an article this fall, is that Chinese military imports spy equipment into the components and products manufactured in the country. In the present case, they were transmitters placed on motherboards, according to the report.
- The designated companies have denied the accusations, but Bloomberg is sticking to their tasks, and this is where it stands.
(Google Translate)
The Chinese regime is linked for the first time in a new report from FOI to extensive industrial cyber espionage against Sweden. Photo: Heiko Junge / TT
The Chinese regime is linked for the first time in a new report from FOI to extensive industrial cyber espionage against Sweden.
Swedish companies are far ahead in many areas that China wants to develop in - it is, for example, about cutting-edge knowledge in business areas such as electronics, IT, aerospace and robotics.
China's strategic goal is to car a world-leading manufacturer of high-tech products, and also a high-tech military superpower.
According to a report from FOI, the Swedish Defense Research Institute, which is based on only open sources, it makes Sweden particularly exposed to industrial cyber espionage from China, especially as Sweden is an open and innovative economy, and to a large extent digitized.
- What I have found is that cyber espionage is one of several methods that China uses to achieve its strategic objectives. There are legal methods such as corporate acquisitions, research collaborations and hiring foreign experts, but also illegal cyber espionage, says analyst Johan Englund, who wrote the report.
It is the first time that a Swedish authority has openly linked the Chinese regime to industrial cyber espionage in Sweden, although FRA has previously made suggestions, and Säpo in its latest annual report mentions China as a player engaged in cyber attacks.
An example of how the cyber espionage goes to is the so-called Cloud Hopper deal, which was revealed by the audit firm PWC 2016.
There, Chinese hackers had entered into network operators providing cloud services to businesses, and using false e-mailing, so-called phishing, spread malicious code to the companies that used the cloud services.
- The purpose is to come across know-how, map out which people are sitting on which positions and can ask certain questions, get hold of blueprints of technological business information. That's what you want, technological information you need for your industries.
The fact that China is behind is considered to be proven, among other things, by the fact that American cybersecurity companies tracked the sources of data intrusion, basically all the way to government buildings in China.
- In itself, there are also private hackers in China, who want information to sell it and make money, but in many cases they have been linked to the regime. Previously, it was industrial linked to the PLA, the Chinese army, but later indications indicate that the industrial espionage generally comes from actors at the Ministry of State Security.
Although it is in the nature of the fact that one cannot say to 100% certain that it is the state behind, the data is confirmed by the fact that many security services mention China as an actor engaged in industrial cyber espionage.
Indirectly, Swedish intelligence authorities and politicians have also pointed out China by mentioning the hacker group APT10 as responsible for the Cloud Hopper attack.
The APT10 is described as one of China's state-sponsored players by the cyber security company Mandiant.
- It's just to put together one plus one, says Johan Englund.
The affected countries in the Cloud Hopper spy team in 2016 were the United States, Norway, Finland, Sweden, the UK and Japan, and the industries were in areas such as IT, energy, mining, finance, medicine, defense industry and public activities.
The APT10 also supported cyber espionage in 2018 against Sweden, Finland, France, Germany and the UK in sectors such as aerospace, medicine, finance, electronics and telecom industry.
According to the report, the effects of the industrial espionage against Sweden can be very costly, and ultimately hit the Swedish companies' competitiveness and the country's welfare.
- Data from the United States, which one must be a little careful with, as they can have their own agenda here, indicates that this is an astronomical amount, the range is estimated at between 225 and 600 billion dollars which the United States is expected to lose on it Chinese cyber espionage.
According to these statistics, China accounts for 50-80 percent of the cross-border cyber espionage in the world.
How big the industrial cyber espionage is in Sweden is difficult to say.
- It is likely that the problems are underestimated because it is expected that a lot of intrusions do not get reported. The companies do not want to admit that they have been exposed to information theft because it looks bad in the eyes of customers, they appear less reliable.
In China, a large part of the high-tech products are sold in the West. A danger that is being warned for now, and as the business information company Bloomberg gave an example in an article this fall, is that Chinese military imports spy equipment into the components and products manufactured in the country. In the present case, they were transmitters placed on motherboards, according to the report.
- The designated companies have denied the accusations, but Bloomberg is sticking to their tasks, and this is where it stands.
