China's espionage, data theft cause concern to Norway, Netherlands

NORWAY: China's "state-sponsored" hackers, who were conducting contract work in service of government espionage, and data theft have become the main concern for Norway and Netherlands, according to an article on Portal Plus authored by Valerio Fabbri. The hackers employ a sophisticated mix of social engineering techniques, including the use of dating sites, employment sites and massaging platforms to gain victims' trust.

Concerned over China's government espionage, the Norwegian Intelligence Service (PST) and the National Security Agency (NSM) in this year's threat assessments have highlighted that China was targeting individuals through social media. Security intelligence has also expressed concerns and said that Beijing can influence the global technical landscape in the coming years. Norwegian companies have also advised users to be cautious and upscale their knowledge to avoid cyber-attacks and upgrade their security protocols to safeguard their information and personnel.

In the wake of past instances of cyber attacks on websites, Norwegian companies have been advised to exercise caution, upscale their knowledge to avoid cyber-attacks and upgrade their security protocols to safeguard their information and personnel. Meanwhile, Norway's wealth fund excluded Chinese tech company Hikvision from investment due to 'grave' human rights violations of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, reported Portal Plus.

China-based companies Huawei and Hikvision are already facing accusations from the West of cyber-attacks and espionage. Denmark and Sweden have also restricted the use of Huawei equipment in their 5G infrastructure. They suspect that the company, in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a shareholder, is contracted to operate Chinese state surveillance of Uyghur Muslims. A similar case was witnessed in the Dutch company ASML, which is the world leader in the manufacturing of machines for making chips, reported the theft of sensitive data to the authorities in February 2023 that in a recent incident, one of their Chinese employees had succeeded in obtaining some sensitive data of their company, thus violating certain export control regulations.

Currently, there is a restriction on the export of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) machines made by ASML after the US banned the export of high technology to China. The majority of the chips worldwide are made with Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) machines and ASML is the only manufacturer that makes and sells DUV systems. Therefore, ASML technology is coveted and has been targeted by the Chinese. It has unique capabilities -- which no one else in the world can replicate -- to produce a type of machine called a EUV lithography tool, without which making an advanced chip is simply impossible. The advanced version of DUV machines and other products may also face restrictions in view of the Chinese threat, Portal Plus reported.

At the face value, these incidences of data theft might seem isolated cases, but a closer look would reveal the sinister agenda behind them. They are well-connected and thought-out plans to break the backbone of target countries by destroying their economy and carrying forward the Dragon's state agenda.