Beijing’s claims that a Ministry of National Defense (MND)-backed organization was behind cyberattacks targeting Chinese Internet infrastructure is a typical Russian cognitive warfare tactic aimed at diverting the attention of Chinese from unpopular government policies, a defense analyst said.
On Monday last week, the Chinese Ministry of State Security wrote on WeChat that the MND’s Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) was funding a hacker group called “Anonymous 64.”
The post said the group had seized control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Photo courtesy of Military News Agency
The hackers’ activities included spreading false information, creating rifts in the public and weakening the governance of the Chinese Communist Party, it said.
In an analysis published on the Web site of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, an MND think tank, policy analyst Tseng Min-chen (曾敏禎) wrote that China’s accusation seeks to divert Chinese public’s attention from a bill the Chinese National People’s Congress passed on Sept. 13 increasing the legal retirement age from 60 to 63 for male workers who do not hold a managerial position, from 50 to 55 for female workers and from 55 to 58 for female executives in a 15-year span starting from next year.
The legislation has caused considerable discontent among Chinese, which was followed by Beijing’s hacking accusation, Tseng said.
The claim was pulled directly from Russia’s cognitive warfare playbook, which centers on the “four Ds” — “distract” attention, “distort” facts, “dismiss” the opponent and “dismay” the intended audience, she said.
Referring to the WeChat post, she questioned why the Chinese government was so slow to respond and only mentioned the alleged cyberattacks now, after claiming the activities began in 2017 shortly after the ICEFCOM was created.
The Chinese agency identified three people who are allegedly active members of Taiwan’s military and under investigation by Chinese authorities for their involvement in the cyberattacks.
That is a legal warfare tactic aimed at generating dismay and rattling Taiwanese, Tseng said.
On Monday last week, ICEFCOM denied China’s accusations.
Beijing is attempting to cover up that China is itself a hotbed of hackers, and Taipei should devise responses to counter China’s cognitive warfare, Tseng said.
Following the accusation, many people have criticized the government online for funding an “Internet army,” a response that plays into Beijing’s hands, as China can easily exploit the comments by sharing them with the Chinese public, thus achieving its goal of distraction, she said.
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