January 6, 2008:
Ten years ago, the Chinese Defense Ministry
established the "NET Force." This was initially a research organization, which
was to measure China's vulnerability to attacks via the Internet. Soon this led
to examining the vulnerability of other countries, especially the United
States, Japan and South Korea (all nations that were heavy Internet users). NET
Force has continued to grow.
NET Force was soon joined by an
irregular civilian militia; the "Red Hackers Union" (RHU). These are several
hundred thousand patriotic Chinese programmers and Internet engineers who
wished to assist the motherland, and put the hurt, via the Internet, on those
who threaten or insult China. The RHU began spontaneously, but the government
has assumed some control, without turning the voluntary organization into another
bureaucracy. Various ministries have liaison officers who basically keep in
touch with what the RHU is up to (mostly the usual geek chatter), and intervene
only to "suggest" that certain key RHU members back off from certain subjects
or activities. Such "suggestions" carry great weight in China, where people who
misbehave on the web are very publicly prosecuted and sent to jail. For those
RHU opinion-leaders and ace hackers that cooperate, there are all manner of
benefits for their careers, not to mention some leniency if they get into some
trouble with the authorities. Many government officials fear the RHU, believing
that it could easily turn into a "counter-revolutionary force." So far, the
Defense Ministry and NET Force officials have assured the senior politicians that
they have the RHU under control.
Starting in the late 1990s, China assembled what has now become 30,000 Ministry
of Public Security employees manning the
Golden Shield Project (also known as The Great Firewall of China), and monitor
Internet use throughout the country. In the last decade, over a billion dollars
has been spent on this effort. While the Great Firewall cannot stop someone
expert at how the Internet works, it does greatly restrict the other 99 percent
of Internet users. And it provides lots of information about what is going on
inside all that Internet traffic. Foreign intelligence agencies are beginning
to find the Great Firewall of China is going from nuisance to obstacle. This
has put government intelligence organizations in a difficult position. In the
U.S., the feds feel compelled to seek assistance from, and work with, hackers
who are developing new ways to tunnel through the Golden Shield. There are
several non-governmental outfits that are involved with this effort, and most
are hostile to intelligence agencies. Nevertheless, some relationships have
been formed, to deal with mutual problems.
It's not only the intel agencies who
are keen to learn their way around, and through, the Great Firewall. Cyber War organizations see the Great
Firewall as a major defensive weapon as well. The Chinese have a much better
idea of what is coming into their country via the Internet, and that makes it
easier to identify hostile traffic, and deal with it. Some American Cyber War
officials are broaching the idea of building something like Golden Shield, just
for military purposes. But that would be difficult in most Western countries,
because of privacy issues. But with Golden Shield, China could unleash worms
and viruses on the Internet, and use their Great Firewall to prevent Chinese
systems from becoming infected. China needs every advantage it can get, because
it has the worst protected, and most infected, PCs in the world. This is
largely the result of so many computers using pirated software, and poorly
trained operators. Meanwhile, the
thousands of people running the Golden Shield are gaining valuable experience,
and becoming some of the most skillful
Internet engineers on the planet.
These three organizations, which
apparently work closely with each other, have provided China with a formidable
Cyber War capability. NET Force, with only a few thousand personnel, appears to
be the controlling organization for Cyber War activities. With the RHU and
Golden Shield, they can mobilize formidable attacks, as well as great defensive
potential. No other nation has anything like it.