Here’s what Chinese hackers really want
In a speech last week on U.S.-China relations, President Xi Jinping said: “We have agreed that neither the U.S. nor the Chinese government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information for commercial advantage.”
Does this include government secrets? Considering President Xi’s statement, it could be deduced that the Chinese government is actively hacking U.S. governmental and government-relevant information systems. The intelligence community, in fact, knows this to be true. Earlier this year, former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said “the Chinese have penetrated each major corporation of any consequence within the U.S.”
When you hear that there are Chinese hackers, they may be a military unit within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) or part of a non-military patriotic Chinese hacker network. In fact, in China, there are many nationalistic hacker groups that hack Western systems for monetary and political reasons. Unlike their Western counterparts, who are mostly individualistic or protesters, Chinese hackers are more involved with politics and the establishment of China as the world leader.
It’s important for cyber technologists in the U.S. to understand the mind of Chinese hackers. To do this, it’s important to know a little history. China was once considered to be the world superpower. However, it has since lost that status. Chinese nationalism is not just about surpassing the West in terms of military might and economic status; it is about returning China to its previous glory and cleansing itself of weakness and humiliation. That is a substantial part of the Chinese global-political hacking agenda.
Most Chinese hackers involved with hacking American systems are young (many are in their 20s), passionate about their homeland and intensely patriotic. These politically motivated youths use hacking as a way to protest against foreign policy that they believe is counter to China’s global dominance. For the most part, they organize into politically focused hacker networks, which build independent web sites that educate their members on computer attacks and intrusion techniques. And as there are many out there that will pay for stolen American data, monetary motivations are becoming almost as important as patriotism.
From this, it can be deduced, and the U.S. government knows, that many Chinese nationalistic hacker groups focus on stealing commercial secrets and selling them to the highest bidder. Which in some cases is undoubtedly the Chinese government.
Imagine walking down a street in Washington, D.C., and between a restaurant and a foreign embassy, you notice a politically affiliated hacker school where you can learn how to exploit the latest technologies for a small fee or, perhaps, for free. That is how many young people in China become hackers. Anyone can learn to hack, and if they are patriotic, this is simply fuel to the fire.
To address the barrage of cyber attacks coming from China, the United States decided to focus on building up cyber-operations capabilities with the creation of U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Md. However, these American cyber warriors have completely different motivations than Chinese hackers. They are usually people who work a job, probably in shifts, have families and a mortgage, and work hard in hopes of receiving work-related rewards, usually monetary. That is a stark contrast from the young Chinese hacker who is learning the latest and greatest hacking techniques from his politically motivated hacking network, which sometimes may even provide a hackerspace for him to work in.
The United States currently is ill-equipped to handle this situation. In order for Americans to get an advantage in this potentially catastrophic global-political issue, they will have to gain a true understanding of the mindset of Chinese hackers and shift their perception of Chinese intent.
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