Off The Record: The Chinese Threat Landscape
Charged with demystifying the threat landscape, Recorded Future’s Insikt Group, the company’s research division, leverages deep government, law enforcement, military, and intelligence expertise to bring these insights to light in our August Off The Record series focusing on China.
About This Series
China comes into focus this August with many developments to cover: new adaptations in state propaganda strategies, shifts in the Chinese cybercrime landscape, and Chinese-state actors targeting humanitarian organizations. These evolving threats impact the landscape for 2022, with sociological, economic, and geopolitical forces in the balance.
Charged with demystifying the threat landscape so far this year, Recorded Future’s Insikt Group, the company’s research division, leverages deep government, law enforcement, military, and intelligence expertise to bring these insights to light.
John Wetzel, Director of Intelligence Solutions at Recorded Future, hosts this exclusive series of interviews and live Q&A with Insikt Group’s expert threat analysts, focused on the Chinese Threat Landscape.
Takeaways
This Off The Record series surfaced insights including:
- Propaganda disseminated by party-state media is likely to become increasingly diverse
- Chinese cybercrime has grown bigger than ever, in its bordering regions
- RedAlpha is likely attributable to contractors conducting cyber-espionage activity on behalf of the Chinese state
Intelligence Briefings
The Chinese Communist Party’s Appeal to Youth in Overseas Propaganda
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) strives to maximize its influence over international audiences, especially global youth. Though their propaganda and thought work apparatus is an “elephant,” weighed down by decades of tradition, party politics, and a complex bureaucracy, the vice minister introduces the challenge to “learn to street dance.” Find out more about these strategy changes.
Chinese Cybercrime in Neighboring Countries
As China continues to tighten its control of the internet and crack down on cybercrime, economic hardships from a slowing economy and lockdowns have driven more people to engage in scams and cybercrime to pay their bills. Bordering regions have become fertile ground for Chinese cybercrime, with sophisticated crime syndicates and Chinese victims.
RedAlpha Conducts Multi-Year Credential Theft Campaign Targeting Global Humanitarian, Think Tank, and Government Organizations
Recorded Future observes Chinese state-sponsored cyber-espionage and surveillance campaigns, likely from RedAlpha (Deepcliff, Red Dev 3), engaging in mass credential theft activity, targeting humanitarian, think tank, and government organizations globally. Over the past 3 years, we have seen them register and weaponize hundreds of domains spoofing these organizations and more.
The Chinese Communist Party’s Appeal to Youth in Overseas Propaganda
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) strives to maximize its influence over international audiences, especially global youth. Though their propaganda and thought work apparatus is an “elephant,” weighed down by decades of tradition, party politics, and a complex bureaucracy, the vice minister introduces the challenge to “learn to street dance.” Find out more about these strategy changes.
Chinese Cybercrime in Neighboring Countries
As China continues to tighten its control of the internet and crack down on cybercrime, economic hardships from a slowing economy and lockdowns have driven more people to engage in scams and cybercrime to pay their bills. Bordering regions have become fertile ground for Chinese cybercrime, with sophisticated crime syndicates and Chinese victims.
RedAlpha Conducts Multi-Year Credential Theft Campaign Targeting Global Humanitarian, Think Tank, and Government Organizations
Recorded Future observes Chinese state-sponsored cyber-espionage and surveillance campaigns, likely from RedAlpha (Deepcliff, Red Dev 3), engaging in mass credential theft activity, targeting humanitarian, think tank, and government organizations globally. Over the past 3 years, we have seen them register and weaponize hundreds of domains spoofing these organizations and more.