Leaked Files Show the Secret World of China’s Hackers for Hire

On February 22nd, The New York Times published an article detailing key info about a Chinese security firm which sold data to anyone willing to pay their prices. For example, for 15,000 dollars, a local government in China was able to access information regarding traffic police in Vietnam. For the heftier price of 278,000 dollars, they would release personal information behind social media accounts. Documents regarding these activities and an “eight-year effort to target databases… in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India.” It was also revealed through documents that this firm worked for Chinese law enforcement and bolstered the government’s espionage efforts. Efforts like these undermine American efforts to prevent Chinese hacking operations. This contracting method has been repeated by other countries, including Iran and Russia, but potentially exposes other contractors within the country, leading to complicating factors.
For the cyber world, there is some good news within this leak: it helps reveal China’s current espionage-for-hire methods, which can aid in building resilience. The topics of interest leaked also show China’s current focus groups, which can help in coordinated response as well. Regarding class content, this helps illustrate an intersection between the alternative policy models. As there are many actors in the cyberspace with their own interests, it can be extremely difficult to form working groups towards a common goal. We see that with the method that was recently exposed, it sort of fulfills a cooperation model regarding the joint work between the Chinese government and I-Soon, the security firm, but includes the corporate model necessary for the security firm, as it functions for profit. It is an interesting development of the conflicting interests emerging from cyberspace and will have to be heavily considered or watched for by other countries and organizations, as this diffusive method can be particularly dangerous, as it increases the permeation and fluidity of cyberspace.