Cyber security. Photo: IC
The US is reportedly launching a series of secret cyber attacks on Russia in retaliation for the widespread SolarWinds attacks allegedly from Russia. The action came along with news that the Biden administration will form a task force to deal with major cyber attacks that Microsoft claimed were linked to China.
Cyber security has become a new weapon by the US and its allies against China and Russia in the information war, Chinese observers said, reminding China to take precautionary measures to prevent cyber threats.
On Monday, a group of US lawmakers proposed legislation that would allow Americans to hold foreign governments and their employees accountable in court for malicious cyber activity, amid rising accusations launched against Russia and China.
The US playing the cyber attack card is moving the ideological struggle to cyber security, and seeking to monopolize the world by suppressing any challengers with a variety of reasons, Wang Yiwei, director of the institute of international affairs at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.
Wang noted Russia and China have broken US hegemony in the cyber world with advanced technological developments. China, seeing a rapid development in technologies like 5G, blockchain technology and digital currency when the internet is experiencing a major intergenerational development, is seen by the US as a potential "threat" in not only cyber space but also in finance.
Wang noted that the US accusing Russia and China in the name of so-called democracy, freedom and security, is actually finding an excuse for it to build a global supply chain in the post-COVID-19 era that excludes China and Russia, control its allies from technology and lead the world, Wang said.
India is investigating suspected cyber intrusions which may have affected operations at a key stock exchange in India and a power outage in the country's commercial capital Mumbai, reports said. There were also allegations some Indian and US media reports that China was behind the suspected attack.
Experts believe that the accusations over the so-called cyber attacks from China, without any evidence, are actually politicizing the cyber security issue, which is to serve some country's public opinion war and information war against China.
"There are many unknown problems and risks in the cyber world and our society is heavily dependent on the internet. Organizing national power to attack the network of another country could lead to consequences which may be as serious as nuclear strikes," said Lü Xiang, an expert in US studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who called for a negotiation and coordination mechanism as well as a law enforcement mechanism based on equal footing among major countries to address cyber security issues.