‘There is a war without gunpowder, and it is happening in cyberspace,’ an expert says.
A massive cache of leaked documents from a Chinese hacking contractor further underscores the global cybersecurity threats posed by China’s communist regime, experts say.
The documents, which were posted on GitHub by unknown individuals on Feb. 16, include product manuals, marketing materials, employee lists, chat records, financial information, and details about foreign infiltration.
The Associated Press confirmed in a Feb. 21 report that the documents originated from China-based cybersecurity vendor I-Soon, known as Anxun in Mandarin, after speaking to two of the company’s employees.
Based on the documents, I-Soon boasts a product line that includes offensive cyber tools and spyware systems. Also included in the documents is a list of contracts that the company signed from July 2016 to June 2022, showing that most of its clients are China’s regional security bureaus. The revelation adds to what is known from the company’s website, which touts the CCP’s Ministry of Public Security as one of its partners.
“The I-Soon incident should once again remind everyone that network security is national security. There is a war without gunpowder, and it is happening in cyberspace,” tech expert Chiang Ya-chi told The Epoch Times on Feb. 21.
Ms. Chiang is the president of the Taiwan Law and Technology Association and a professor who specializes in internet technology and intellectual property law at National Taiwan Ocean University.
The leaked documents show that I-Soon is funded by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Ms. Chiang said, noting that Bejing uses tools developed by firms such as I-Soon to infiltrate foreign governments and entities.
A victim list is included in the leaked documents, showing that I-Soon has targeted telecommunications companies, hospitals, universities, organizations, and government entities from many countries. These nations include France, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
One document reveals that I-Soon charged more money for hacking into Vietnam’s Ministry of Economy than for hacking into two other Vietnamese government ministries.
Spyware
Since the online dump last week, many researchers and experts have published their analysis of the documents written in simplified Chinese.
By Frank Fang
