The ‘sheep’ meet the ‘beasts’ in the digital arena
Print Edition
A long list of user names and passwords appeared on an electronics board called Wall of Sheep. It listed details of those who had been hacked after they joined a public Wi-Fi network.
Fortunately, it was a just a security demo from Qihoo 360, one of the participants at the China Cybersecruity Week exhibition in Beijing late last month.
The demo showed that most users are “sheep,” vulnerable to “beasts” like online fraud and spy programs in computers and smart devices, according to Qihoo 360, the country’s top online security firm.
That was the motivation for China, with more than 600 million Internet users, to stage the national-level information security fair, the first of its kind since China connected to the worldwide web in 1994.
“The Internet has profoundly changed the Chinese way of life and business,” said Qi Xiangdong, Qihoo 360’s president. “However, the country is increasingly the victim of Internet hackers and cyber-terrorism.”
Hosted by top regulators like the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television,China Cybersecruity Week attracted telecommunications carriers, banks, dot-com giants and IT security firms.
To raise public awareness of cyber security, the weeklong public event included a series of shows and lectures nationwide as well as demos of simulated cyber attacks, such as Sheep Wall.
The exhibition showed how photos stored in smartphones or online servers can be leaked without permission, how money is transfered out of accounts after shopping online or clicking links, and how cars with remote controls can be taken over by outsiders.
Between 6 million and 10 million computers are attacked or infected by various online malware every day, according to 360’s Qi.
China Mobile, which has invested several hundred million yuan on information security, helps users block 800 million spam messages each day. Many of those messages contain unsolicited advertisements or fraud links.
China has increased its focus on Internet security in the wake of the Edward Snowden case. Former US National Security Agency worker Snowden made public US intelligence using technologies developed for cyber espionage.
Slogans posted around the event evoked President Xi Jinping’s remark: “Cyber security is national security.”
Cyber security also extends to Internet finance, including the security of mobile payments. That creates a huge market for the whole industry chain of telecommunications carriers, smartphone vendors, telecom equipment makers, security firms and “white hat” hackers who help companies detect and deter system loopholes.
Globally speaking, the revenue of the information security market is forecast to reach US$89.5 billion in 2016, compared with US$67.2 billion in 2013, according to Gartner, a US-based IT research firm.
In China, more than 70 percent of chief information officers said they plan to increase investment in information security, according to a recent survey. The domestic market investment in digital security is expected to hit 10 billion yuan (US$1.64 billion) next year, said Gartner.
China Telecom and Coolpad have launched a smartphone with an independent security chip, which allows users to store top secret or personal files in an independent system. Outsiders can’t access that information even if they copy the data to computers because all the files are encrypted.
The new Bodun phone, Coolpad’s flagship model this year, also prevents messages being leaked to a third party. It’s based on the new security chip and China Telecom’s CDMA (code division multiple access) network, formerly used in the military.
“Protecting business files and personal information stored in smartphones is always a concern for people,” said Guo Deying, chairman of Coolpad. “It encourages us to offer them safe phones for work and daily life.”
China Telecom has set up data security subsidiaries to provide safety services and tools for enterprises using its broadband networks.
Though less high profile at the security exhibition, white hat hackers also were in attendance. The ad hoc group of “good guy” hackers has established quite a reputation for finding loopholes in the systems of top Chinese banks and websites.
For example, one bank spent several million yuan inviting white hats to fix system loopholes that had resulted in a 2-billion-yuan loss, according to an industry official who declined to be identified.
Top white hat hackers Yu Yang and Wang Qi visited Tsinghua University during the event to give lectures and promote XCTF, a national online security competition among university students that aims to develop more security talent.
There is a serious shortage of people working in Internet security as top dot-com firms like Tencent and Baidu increase investment in the sector, analysts said.
Fang Dongxing, a well-known blogger in China, said that a safer cyber environment is important for Chinese Internet enterprises as they seek global expansion.
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