Cyber Warfare in China - Term Paper Example

? Cyber Warfare in China 03 May Cyber Warfare in China “Cyber warfare involves units organized along nation-state boundaries, in offensive and defensive operations, using computers to attack other computers or networks through electronic means”1. Computer networks are connected globally and it is easy for the hackers or trained computer professionals to break all the firewalls and intrude into the websites of other countries to collect secret information. Moreover, it is possible for the computer professionals to destroy or create problems to the critical websites owned by enemy countries. In most of the cyber warfare cases, the intruders get complete support from their mother countries. One of the major benefits of cyber-attacks or cyber warfare is the possibility of causing huge problems to enemy countries indirectly. It should be noted that not many international laws are currently in place to counter the challenges raised by cyber attackers. Moreover, it is difficult to identify the sources of attack since the hackers can strike the target precisely without leaving many evidences about the culprits. Cyber warfare will involve disruption of crucial network services and data, damage to critical infrastructure, and the creation of uncertainty and doubt among opposing commanders and political leaders. Cyber-attack provides an ability to strike both tactical and strategic targets from a distance using inexpensive systems2 China is often been accused for its involvement in cyber warfare with its enemy countries like America, India etc. People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China is accused for conducting cyber warfare with many other countries. In fact, “PLA takes cyber war seriously as this kind of warfare offers an immediate way for the country to overcome the superiority of the U.S. in warfare techniques and weaponry”3. America is one country which has superior military power than China. Based on the current capabilities, it is difficult for China to attack America directly. So, they are believed to be causing huge problems to America with the help of cyber warfare. Same way, India is another country which is working against the interests of China. India’s has frontier disputes with China. Moreover, the acceptance given to the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama by India is indigestible to China. So they are causing huge problems to India with the help of cyber warfare. Because of the necessities of instant interchange of information between countries located at different parts of the world, most networks and the computers in the world are connected in some ways. In a heavily globalized world, it is difficult for a country to isolate its computer networks from global networks. Moreover, majority of the computers in the networks are using same operating systems and networking technologies because of the monopoly of some companies in these sectors. For example, Windows is used as the operating system in majority of the computers all over the world. Same way, TCP/IP protocols are used in majority of the computer networks. Although a completely accurate map of the overall Net has not been produced, it is logical to reason that the 95% of privately owned networks are connected to each other in some way. The interoperability benefits of standardized protocols and the spread of recently devised worms and viruses such as Nimda and Sasser are testament to the links between these networks4. China has superior internet related technologies compared to many other countries in the world. Moreover, many of the Chinese youths are currently getting training on computer software. China knows very well that they can cause huge problems to enemies silently and escape from getting punished by others. “After land, sea, air and space, warfare has entered the fifth domain: cyberspace”5. Until recent times, military powers were keen in accumulating arms and for land, sea, air and space attacks and defense. However, the development of internet or cyber space opened another domain for warfare. China is currently the leader in cyber warfare. This paper analyses the characteristics of cyber warfare and China’s engagements in cyber warfare. The start of China’s ambition in entering the realm of cyber warfare In 1993, President Jiang Zemin officially announced a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) a part of the national military strategy for modernization. RMA is a theory about the future of warfare, often connected to technological and organizational recommendations for change in the United States military and others6. China is the leader in using or utilizing modern technologies effectively for different purposes. For example, China is the number one exploiter of solar energy at present and even United States is far behind China in that respect. Same way, internet related technologies are much more developed in China compared to that in other countries. China is one of the most rapidly developing economies in the world at present. Its defence budget is growing alarmingly over the last few years. Chinese communist party leaders are aware of the dangers associated with the growing military budgets. They wanted to reduce the military budgets as much as possible to give more attention to other critical areas of developments. At the same time, they wanted to attain military objectives in a cheaper manner. Cyber warfare has been developed as an option for fulfilling all these objectives. It should be noted that cyber warfare is the cheapest way of attaining military objectives. Moreover, it can be used to strike the targets precisely. All these factors motivated Chinese communist party leaders to conduct cyber wars with others secretly. “Following the conclusion of the first Gulf War in 1991, the Chinese government and PLA doctrinal thinkers began to analyse the U.S. military victory. American and Coalition military forces used joint operations coordinated by electronic means in order to defeat the Iraqi military”7. China took notes from the first Gulf War and the way in which America achieved easy victory over Iraq, attracted the Chinese leadership very much. In fact China started preparations for cyber warfare immediately after the first gulf war. In 1990’s, China established thee different agencies such as Ministry of State Security (MSS), Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and the Ministry of Information to conduct cyber warfare on others. Chinese cyber army is kept in the private sector in order to put dust in the eyes of others. In 1995 then–Major General Wang Pufeng, former Director of the Strategy Department of the Academy of Military Sciences, wrote, “In the near future, information warfare will control the form and the future of war. We recognize this developmental trend of information warfare and see it as a driving force in the modernization of China’s military and combat readiness”8. China’s ambitions to become a prominent force in cyber warfare can be well understood from the words of Wang Pufeng. One of the most important qualities of China is its ability to identify the potentials of new technologies. It should be noted that while most of the other countries are struggling to find answers to energy crisis, China developed indigenous technologies to exploit solar energy. Same way, China is currently developing cyber warfare strategies and no other country seems to be nearer to China in that respect. China was looking for an opportunity to cause problems in America since America is the only superpower which is capable of causing problems to China’s interests. After the destruction of former Soviet Union, communism has been almost wiped off from Europe. China is the only major country in which communism prevails now. It is not a secret that America wants to baptize China as a democratic country. So, they are doing everything possible to destabilize the communist government in China. China on the other hand does not have the military power to attack America even though Chinese army is the biggest army on earth. American military power is far more superior to Chinese military power even if the manpower in its army is comparatively smaller than that in China. Because of these facts, China likes to cause problems to America by staying behind the curtains. Cyber-attacks or cyber warfare provided them the necessary facilities to cause problems in America anonymously. After the May 2000 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, hackers attacked United States political, military, and civilian web sites. The following year, Department of Defence officials warned that reprisal was likely on the anniversary of the 2000 accidental bombing. The Chinese Liberation Army Daily reportedly advocated the recruitment of civilians to aid in the cyber-attacks. Air Force Maj. General John Bradley commented “We expected another series of attacks from Chinese hackers, but actually the government of China asked them not to do that9. Shaun Tandon (2009) has mentioned that “China has already given new face to the espionage by using cyber-attacks”10 The major advantage of cyber-attacks is the ability conduct secret missions without leaving any evidences about the culprit. United States is believed to be the primary target of Chinese cyber-attacks. It is not necessary that all the cyber warfare conducted by the Chinese people have the support or blessings of the government. In fact, many Chinese patriotic people conduct cyber-attacks mainly on American targets. “For the United States, the prospect is especially worrisome. The entire U.S. economy depends on operations in cyberspace. If computer networks shut down, so will the country”11. China knows this fact very well and they are doing everything possible to cause big headaches to America through cyber space. Many people believe that a possible third world war may conduct through cyber space rather than, land, space, air or water. How cyber warfare in its essence reinforces the notion of Sun Tzu's “subduing the enemy without battle? “In the ancient text The Art of War, military strategist Sun Tzu suggests that to be successful in war you have to understanding the environment in which you will do battle”12. One of the major problems associated with traditional war strategies is the problems in reducing human casualties. Even though countries engaged in wars are usually trying to cause huge damages to the economic circles of the enemy country, they often try to reduce the human or civilian casualties as much as possible. But it is extremely difficult to attain military objectives without taking the life of some innocent people. According to Sun Tzu “For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles, is not the acme of skills. To subdue the enemy without battle is the acme of skill”13. Many people have the belief that victories in war should be measured or analysed in terms of the human casualties caused to the enemies. In other words if the winner was able to cause too much damage to the enemies, that victory is normally labelled as a great victory. But Sun Tzu had other ideas. In his opinion, victory in wars will be great only if the winner is able to achieve victory without causing many damages to the human life. “The best battle, Sun Tzu says, is the battle that is won without being fought”14. Since weapons are used extensively in most of the traditional wars, it is impossible to avoid human casualties. Until recent times, people thought that human casualties are inevitable in wars. In other words, they believed that non wars can be won without shedding some blood. However, the development of cyber warfare is slowly rewriting all these concepts. It is possible to gain victory in wars without causing human casualties. For example, Tibet is a small country which likes to escape from the control of China. It is easy for China to keep Tibet under their control because of their superior military power. Tibet does not have any military strength to counter the challenges of China. Imagine a situation in which China wants to annex its small neighbour Tibet. Instead of conducting an attack on Tibet using traditional weapons, it is possible for China to attack Tibet through cyber space. Cyber-attacks can cause immense damages to the financial, energy, telecom and media systems of Tibet so that Tibet may surrender immediately. In other words, China can achieve victory over Tibet without shedding any blood. While using cyber warfare, the attackers are causing problems to the websites and therefore human casualties can be reduced a lot. Hacker’s activities are usually referred as hacktivism in cyber languages. The most common form of hacktivism is the defacing of web pages to carry a message to the audience of that web site. The site shown in Figure below – an Australian business defaced to accuse Australia of being a terrorist country, is a recent example of hacktivism – as well as illustrating the tensions of the war on terror being transferred to the electronic realm15. The above hacktivism seems to be harmless. It appears just like a harmless way of ridiculing others. However, it should be noted that hacktivism or cyber warfare can create human casualties also. For expel, most of the aircrafts are currently operating based on the instructions of the computers. Hackers can block the communication between the aircraft in flight and the air traffic control office at the ground. Hackers can also send wrong information between the aircrafts and the ground stations. All these incidents can result in aircraft accidents and heavy casualties may occur to human life and other properties. Cyber warfare strategies are used in the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks, which killed around 200 human lives. “Stuart Starr, distinguished research fellow at the National Defense University, said the attackers used Google Earth and GPS technology to locate themselves with respect to everybody else”16. Some of the recent studies have shown that Al-Qaeda have attempted many times to strike the targets through cyber space. In short, it is possible to conduct cyber wars both in a peaceful manner and also in a bloody manner. In most of the warfare, the attacker conducts his mission directly. In direct missions, the possibility of danger to the attacker’s life is immense. So, modern terrorists are trying to strike their targets from a distance. Cyber space is allowing them to conduct such attacks from a safe distance. In short, Sun Tzu’s notion of “subduing the enemy without battle” is relevant in the case of cyber warfare. In other words, it is possible to attain military objectives in peaceful manner using the cyber warfare strategies through cyber space. At the same time, it should be noted that cyber warfare can also be bloody at times. The attacker can decide whether he wants to conduct his war in a peaceful manner or not while using cyber space. Internet control for the Chinese people According to findings of a series of surveys about internet use in China from 2000 to 2007, over 80% of respondents say they think the internet should be managed or controlled, and in 2007, almost 85% say they think the government should be responsible for doing it17. Many people have the illusion that China’s internet users are dissatisfied over the tight control enforced on internet use by the government. But the statistics given above give entirely new picture about the opinions of Chinese internet users. Majority of the Chinese people are extremely patriotic and they are ready to sacrifice anything for the betterment of their country. They know that their country is growing rapidly and the America like superpowers are not much interested in watching China’s progress. Chinese government educate the public that America can strike Chinese targets through cyber space unless tight controls have not been enforced upon internet usage in China. Perhaps Chinese people have the least control on internet activities in the world even though internet technologies are developing at a rapid rate in China. Chinese government is not much interested in giving complete freedom to the people in using internet. Even popular social Medias such as Facebook, Twitter etc are working only in a restricted manner in China. The recent Arab revolutions which took place in countries such as Libya, Egypt, Tunisia etc are usually referred as facebook revolutions. In other words, social medias played vital roles in causing Arab revolutions. China knows this fact very well. They are aware of the fact that America like democratic countries is looking for opportunities to destabilize the communist government in China. Social networks can be served as a better weapon in the hands of Americans to motivate the Chinese people to fight against the dictatorship of communist government. When the latest list of firms approved by Beijing to provide online mapping services in China was published, it was no great surprise that Google’s name was missing. Google has an estimated 2 million users of its mobile mapping services in China, but now the state bureau of surveying and mapping services is reviewing the sector. Only those companies of “excellent quality” will be approved, the bureau says. Google, apparently, has so far failed to demonstrate that “excellence” to Beijing’s satisfaction. Google is still in a messy stand-off with the government over its decision last year to stop censoring its search results in China18. Google is an American company whose activities in China are watched suspiciously by the authorities. Many Chinese leaders believe that Google is working in China with some hidden agenda to work against the administration. It should be noted that Google is the number one internet search engine and millions of articles against the interests of Chinese administration are appearing in it. China does not like Chinese people to read such articles because of their fear that these articles may generate anti-communist feelings in the minds of the people. So they wanted Google to present its contents in a restricted manner in front of the Chinese people. However, Google is not ready to obey all such restrictions. Thus, they became the dust in the eyes of the Chinese leadership. So, they are not allowing Google to function freely in China. Baidu Inc. is a Chinese company which is engaged in search engine business in Chinese language. In fact, Baidu was established in 2000 with an intention to counter the challenges of Google. Chinese authorities are giving more freedom to Baidu while restricting the freedom of Google in China. Recently Google tried to digitalize Chinese books as part of their global digitalizing campaigns of books. Google currently owes the largest online book store in the world. They wanted to maintain their supremacy in online book market and for that purpose they tried to digitalize Chinese books. However, Chinese authorities and the people perceived that attempt by Google as an attempt to steal Chinese culture. Government prevented Google from digitalizing Chinese books to keep the supremacy of Baidu over Google in Chinese market. Today, after all Google’s efforts, Baidu retains more than 70 percent of the Chinese market. Its brand is severely damaged in the biggest growth market in the world. Although there may be a genuine plot to sabotage Google, it may be that the search giant’s “threat” to pull out of China is a mask for commercial and cross-cultural failings, and possibly a counter-tactic to put pressure on the government19. Google realised that it is impossible for them to capture Chinese markets as it does globally. China is a communist country whereas most of the other global powers are democratic countries. In democracy, freedom, liberties and human rights have immense value whereas in autocracy or in communism, these values have least importance. These differences in political ideologies between China and the rest of the world compelled Google to withdraw voluntarily from its operations in Chinese soil in April 2010. It should be noted that Google owned more than 30% of search engine businesses in China when it decided to quit from China. The figure 30% is not a small achievement when one would consider the fact that China is the most heavily populated country in the world as well as the rapidly emerging country in the world. “Google has identified China as the source of attacks on prominent U.S. Web properties and e-mail accounts belonging to human rights activists, though it has not revealed the specific people behind them”20. Being an American company, it is difficult for Google to keep a blind eye towards the anti-American activities performed by Chinese people. China never allowed the spreading of any contents through against their will; however, they encouraged all anti-American activities through cyber world. At the same time, it should be noted that another American company; Microsoft is not facing such problems in China. Even though Microsoft is an American company, its acceptance in China is comparatively high. This is because of the fact that majority of the PC’s operating in China are using Windows based operating system and it will be suicidal for the Chinese authorities to put any restrictions upon Microsoft. Moreover, Microsoft is not much interested in participating in any politics. “The news that Microsoft shut down a Chinese blogger's site at the request of Beijing officials is bringing a renewed focus on the role U.S. companies play in helping China control the Internet”21. The above incident clearly suggests that Microsoft is trying to establish good relations with Chinese authorities. They know very well that in order to prosper in China, they should sacrifice some of their business ethics and ideologies. “Yahoo got slammed last year for cooperating with a Chinese government investigation that led to the imprisonment of a journalist”22. It is mandatory to make some compromises while doing any business in China. The political, legal and cultural climate in China is entirely different from that in other parts of the world. A company operating in China should decide whether they should work for their own interests or for the interests of the global community. Corporate social responsibility is a highly debated term in business world at present. The term corporate social responsibility reminds companies that they have some commitments towards the global community. The Yahoo case reminds us that it is difficult to maintain good standards of business ethics in China since the principles of business ethics in China are entirely different form that in other parts of the world. China does not believe in traditional business ethics principles. For them, the interests of the community party should be given priority in all the activities performed in China. The interests of the public is only secondary to the political leaders in China. “The world, Beijing seems to believe, needs China more than China needs the world”23. It should not be forgotten that when all American and European countries failed to overcome the challenges raised by recent recession, China was one country which succeeded in escaping from the recession problems. At present, Chinese economic growth is a major element in maintaining global economic growth in the right path. America and other western countries are currently trying to invest heavily in China in order to exploit the opportunities in China. Global wealth is slowly shifting from less heavily populated European countries to heavily populated Asian countries such as China and India. Americans and Westerners are aware of this fact and it is impossible for them to keep a blind eye towards these facts. On the other hand, China knows very well that western companies do not have many options left behind. So, they will be ready to obey the rules and regulations of China instead of staying away from China. In China, people rely heavily on internet cafes for their surfing needs. Unlike Americans, majority of the Chinese people do not have internet connection in their home. So, people usually use internet from public places such as internet cafes, schools, hotels, etc. However, the usage of search engines in these places is restricted by the government. It should be noted that majority of the internet surfing activities require some kind of search activities. However, Chinese people do not have the luxury to use popular search engines while using internet. Only the local search engines are available to them and that also in a restricted manner. The authorities in China are particular in blocking searches for Chinese people even though they show less interests in blocking internet searches to foreigners working or staying in China. This is because of their awareness that internet searches may present unwanted contents in front of the Chinese people which will motivate them to do something against the autocratic government. Chinese authorities have not forgotten the experiences they learned from the Tiananmen Square incident. Internet was not much popular at the time of occurrence of this incident. Now, internet is so powerful and it is creating revolutions in countries where dictatorship is prevailing. The above awareness is forcing Chinese authorities to restrict internet use as much as possible in China. Censorship of the internet in China is becoming more draconian, according to new details of Beijing's online restrictions published by human rights organizations. The government monitors the internet by means of a skillful mix of filtering technologies, cyber-police surveillance and propaganda, in all of which China invests massively," writes the technician, referred to only as "Mr Tao". "Draconian censorship hunts down anything to do with human rights, democracy and freedom of belief. It nips free expression in the bud"24. Being the most heavily populated country in the world, internet users in China constitute a substantial portion of the global community of internet users. Some people may think that it is difficult for China to restrict the activities of internet users. But in reality, they are effectively controlling the information exchanges through internet with the help of superior IT technologies. “A group of Canadian human-rights activists and computer security researchers has discovered a huge surveillance system in China that monitors and archives certain Internet text conversations that include politically charged words”25. China is infamous for censoring information spread through different Medias. Print and visual media can be controlled easily whereas controlling of internet is not easy. Internet is operating from a global platform whereas print and visual Medias are operating from local platform in China. Even then, China has created strong firewalls to block the intrusion of unfavourable information to their territories. Conclusions China is believed to be the forerunner in terms of cyber warfare. Even though America has supremacy in all the four domains (land, water, air and space) of warfare, China is developing new strategies to attack others through the fifth domain; cyber world. One of the major characteristics of cyber warfare is the ability of the attacker to stay anonymous. Moreover, the expenditure needed for cyber-attacks are extremely low compared to the expenditure needed for other types of attacks. The ability to attack distant targets by staying at a safer place is another advantage of cyber warfare. Cyber warfare can be conducted both in bloody and peaceful manner. No other wars can ensure the safety of innocent people as cyber warfare does. However, it is possible to use cyber warfare means for causing heavy casualties also. In other words, Sun Tzu’s notion of “subduing the enemy without battle” can be reinforced while using cyber warfare. In China, internet cannot be operated freely as it does in other parts of the world. Chinese government has lot of reservations about the contents spread through internet search engines. It is difficult for foreign IT companies operating in China to function freely. The IT companies like Google forced to withdraw its operations from China because of China’s intrusion into the business matters of Google. On the other hand companies such as Yahoo, Microsoft etc are operating in China without many problems because of their readiness to obey Chinese rules and regulations. Chinese internet users are handicapped by the lack of availability of prominent search engines. Baidu is the local search engine used by the Chinese people to collect information. Baidu is operating strictly under the guidance and control of the government. So no unfavourable information against the government may spread in China through internet. In short, Chinese people have least control over their activities on internet. They forced to use internet the way in which the government wish them to do. Bibliography 1. Billo Charles & Chang Welton. Cyber warfare An analysis of the means and motivations of Selected nation states. 2004. [Online] http://www.ists.dartmouth.edu/docs/cyberwarfare.pdf [Accessed 03 May 2012] 2. China's Cyber Warfare. Chinascope, Nov/Dec2011, Issue 54, p6-16 3. Ellsmore, Nick. Cyber Terrorism in Australia. 2002. SIFT special report. [Online] http://www.stratsec.net/getattachment/daf55c50-d9e6-4d15-bcea-2a0170bc461a/stratsec---Ellsmore---Cyber-Terrorism.pdf [Accessed 03 May 2012] 4. Einhorn Bruce. How China Controls the Internet. 2006. Business Week. January 13, 2006. 5. 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