There's been an interesting new development in China's use of cyber space as an element in its intelligence and security operations. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is reportedly funding a vast complex of part-time cyber-devotees to supplement and compliment the official structure of cyber interception and invasion.
Equally as interesting is the willingness of the Chinese authorities to allow the publication of this fact. The first official recognition of this program occurred in one chosen hi-tech factory in 2002. According to an official PLA publication, there are now thousands of such units around the country. Obviously the proliferation was considered too great to hide.
Effectively acting as a PLA-associated technical reserve, its mostly under-thirty part-timers are drawn largely from civilian companies and university-level institutes operating in electronic fields. A national guard of "cyber soldiers" provides China's central cyber security system with a particularly useful training ground and support structure for the already vastly expanded echelon of professionals committed to both the defensive and offensive aspects of electronic warfare.
Beijing views the cyber world as an immense battleground on which to gain advantage over its perceived enemies and at the same time act as a defensive bulwark against counter-cyber intrusions. Beijing believes firmly in the importance of the mobilization of volunteer talent in order to add substantially to the intellectual firepower of national security and defense activity.
That's not a nice thing for an ostensible friend and most valued trading partner to be doing, is it? And one can only imagine what some of the Chinese nationals currently working, studying, and residing in the US might be doing. To read more, click here.