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OPINION SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 | The Indian Eye 12

Ladakh faces threats of attacks from across the border

Biotech and Serum Institute of India, with its ‘all-weather friend’ to under-
and the 2022 power grid incident in take disinformation campaigns. China
Ladakh. Furthermore, cyberattacks is also allegedly collecting voice sam-
from China in the private sector in- ples using artificial intelligence from
clude the 2018 compromise of Man- ‘military sensitive regions of India’, in-
aged Service Providers and technolo- cluding Jammu and Kashmir and Pun-
gy companies and targeting of Indian jab that can be later used for informa-
media houses in 2021. tion and cyber espionage operations.
India has also been a victim of India needs to have a robust strat-
four major Chinese espionage opera- egy to detect and expose China’s cyber
tions along with other countries where espionage campaigns. Cyberattacks
their civil society, government, and are enabled with critical intelligence
private organizations have been com- gathered by Chinese government
promised. These include targeting of agencies. China has a long history of
NGOs, political and law enforcement launching cyberattacks against Indi-
agencies in East and South Asia in an government organizations, critical
2019; 2020 hacking of 75 organiza- infrastructure, private sector, and hu-
tions in India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz- man rights activists. These attacks are
stan, Malaysia, Russia and Ukraine; indicative of an elaborate and existing
SlothfulMedia malware attack on In- cyber espionage campaign against
dia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malay- India. The key to addressing such
sia, Russia and Ukraine for espionage US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a Guest House in Taipei during her recent visit to Taiwan challenges is to reinforce intelligence
purposes; and RedFoxtrot linked cy- gathering and enhance collaboration
ber espionage in Afghanistan, India, (ANI Photo/Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) Twitter) with private sector tech companies
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Ta- that have the technical expertise to
jikistan and Uzbekistan in 2021. before Russia’s announcements of against Taiwan that could include tar- help fight such operations. Finally,
While Chinese cyber operations “military operations” in Ukraine, geting critical infrastructure and mili- there is immense scope for coopera-
in Taiwan did not lead to an escalation, Russia had undertaken disruptive tary assets and can be seen as a sign for a tion on cybersecurity between India
it is useful to juxtapose the key take- wiper cyberattacks on 14 January possible invasion of Taiwan. This is due and Taiwan, especially on information
aways from this event as against the on Ukrainian critical infrastructure to China’s military strategy that states sharing on cyberattacks and technical
cyber conflict between Ukraine and networks which then led to an esca- that cyber operations play a crucial assistance from Taiwan to set up semi-
Russia. China has used cyberspace to lation. While offensive cyber opera- role early on in a conventional conflict. conductor plants in India.
gain classified information through tions by themselves aren’t indicative In the Indian context, there are
cyber espionage and to construct of a possible military conflict, coer- some takeaways given the nature of Krutika Patil is Research Assistant for
false narratives through information cive cyber operations coupled with Chinese cyber operations in Taiwan. the Project on Cyber Security at the
warfare. In the Russia–Ukraine War, threats and warnings from officials, Chinese mis-information operations Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense
both Russia and Ukraine employed military exercises, and suspension in Taiwan were of an advanced na- Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.
disruptive cyber offensive operations of talks suggest possible escalation. ture. China might face difficulties to Views expressed are of the author and
to target critical infrastructure along China might have learnt from the employ similar disinformation cam- do not necessarily reflect the views of
with cyber espionage and information Russian example that offensive cyber paigns due to the complexities in the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the
operations. operations like deployment of wipers language and social norms in India. Government of India.
China was therefore cautious blew Russia’s access to Ukrainian net- Apart from the numerous cyberat-
of not launching more sophisticated works even before the war started. Of- tacks launched against physical infra- This is the abridged version of the
cyberattacks that would damage crit- fensive cyber operations are extreme- structure and assets in India—some Introduction of the book which
ical access points hampering future ly difficult to execute successfully and of which have been mentioned in pre- appeared first in the Comment
cyber operations or existing cyber premature execution may result in vious sections—China–Pak collusion section of the website (www.idsa.in) of
espionage efforts. This is a crucial loss of capability. in the information warfare domain is Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense
distinction indicating their hesitation China could in foreseeable future well-documented and a cause for con- Studies and Analyses, New Delhi on
for an on-ground escalation. Even launch more disruptive cyberattacks cern. China can further up the ante September 28, 2022

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