China Admits That It Conducts Cyber Warfare

© Edgar Su/Reuters

Shane Harris, Daily Beast: China Reveals Its Cyberwar Secrets

In an extraordinary official document, Beijing admits it has special units to wage cyberwar—and a lot of them. Is anybody safe?

A high-level Chinese military organization has for the first time formally acknowledged that the country’s military and its intelligence community have specialized units for waging war on computer networks.

China’s hacking exploits, particularly those aimed at stealing trade secrets from U.S. companies, have been well known for years, and a source of constant tension between Washington and Beijing. But Chinese officials have routinely dismissed allegations that they spy on American corporations or have the ability to damage critical infrastructure, such as electrical power grids and gas pipelines, via cyber attacks.

Now it appears that China has dropped the charade. “This is the first time we’ve seen an explicit acknowledgement of the existence of China’s secretive cyber-warfare forces from the Chinese side,” says Joe McReynolds, who researches the country’s network warfare strategy, doctrine, and capabilities at the Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis.

WNU Editor: China's persistent denials may have had some credibility a few years ago .... but no more now. In fact .... this shift in policy helps the Chinese government to reassure their population that they do not only have the ability to resist the cyber warfare capabilities of another state .... but they are also strong enough to launch their own cyber attack. In short .... the Chinese have made the calculation that it would benefit them more to show and project cyber strength rather than cyber weakness.