China has warned against the use of foreign geographic software after discovering information about its vital infrastructure and military was being leaked.
While the Ministry of State Security did not assign any blame, it did state that the software in question was built with “backdoors” to allow deliberate access to data.
As a result, the Chinese government has urged organizations to implement checks for security vulnerabilities and data breaches.
Military, energy and transport in danger
The Chinese government issued a statement through its official WeChat account saying that the data collected by foreign software contains state secrets, “which poses a serious threat to China's national security.”
According to ReutersThe data at risk includes highly accurate geographic information and three-dimensional geomorphological maps related to key industries including transportation, energy and military.
As a result of increased global tensions, enhancing the security of key industries has been a priority for China, especially following an increase in sabre-rattling towards Taiwan and continued US reassurances towards the island.
China is suspected of being behind a number of recent cyber attacks that are probing US infrastructure in order to develop an attack manual in the event of war between the two superpowers.
The US has also taken steps to secure domestic production of semiconductors for its military by investing several billion dollars in building factories in the US as part of the CHIPS Act. This is considered an investment in national security, as current imports from manufacturing centers in East Asia are at risk of Chinese espionage.