4 April 2015

New Chinese Cyberattacks: What’s to Be Done?

Steve Dickinson, Jason Q. Ng, Isaac Mao, Collin Anderson 
April 1, 2015

The Chinese have already weaponized the Internet. They assume that everyone else has done the same thing. China does not see the Internet as a benign force. They see the Internet as a weapon aimed at their heart. It is therefore completely natural that they will respond to what they see as threats directed at China that originate on the Internet.

One method they will use for protection is to create a Chinese sovereign Internet. Within China, the Internet will be entirely in the control of the Chinese authorities. This is a Balkanization of the Internet. The Chinese authorities understand this and welcome the result.

The problem for the Chinese is then is what to do about attacks against China that come from outside of the borders of China. They have a two-prong policy. First, the Great Firewall will block access to China. This is the primary strategy. Second, where the Great Firewall is not effective, China will strike back, using the open Internet as a weapon. This is exactly what is happening in the current GitHub denial of service attack.

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