A three beats waltz: The ecosystem behind Chinese state-sponsored cyber threats

Category	Details
State Actors	People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Ministry of State Security (MSS), Ministry of Public Security (MPS)
Cyber Operations Attribution	Since 2021, most operations attributed to China are linked to MSS, with a decrease in PLA-linked activities post-2015 PLA reform
Autonomy of MSS & MPS	Provincial departments of MSS and MPS enjoy a large degree of autonomy in cyber operations and rely on private companies for outsourcing offensive capabilities
Role of Civilian Actors	Patriotic hackers were initially involved in hacktivist campaigns and later integrated into state-sponsored operations, contributing to the development of malware
Hacktivism to Professionalization	After 2002, patriotic hackers stopped hacktivism and became professionalized, with many working in private companies and engaging in parallel activities like cybercrime
Hack-for-Hire Ecosystem	Leaks from I-SOON revealed that state actors subcontract cyber offensive services, with provincial and city-level outsourcing being common
Private Companies’ Involvement	Tech giants and smaller companies (e.g., I-SOON) provide cyber offensive capacities, with some offering niche digital services
MSS’s Role in Offensive Operations	MSS collects vulnerabilities from researchers and companies, which are then weaponized for use in state-sponsored operations
State & Private Cooperation	Chinese APTs likely involve collaboration between private and state actors, rather than being strictly associated with a single unit
Report Objective	The report provides an overview of China’s offensive cyber ecosystem, key actors, and their relationships, based on Sekoia’s analysis, open-source reports, and expert interviews
Acknowledgements	Special thanks to Ivan Kwiatkowski, Dakota Cary, and Eugenio Benincasa for their insights into the subject

Read full article:https://blog.sekoia.io/a-three-beats-waltz-the-ecosystem-behind-chinese-state-sponsored-cyber-threats/

Disclaimer: The above summary has been generated by an AI language model