China is launching a new campaign to crack down on the theft of sensitive geographical data by foriegn powers, the country's spy agency has said.
The Ministry of State Security announced a rigorous investigation after geographical information was accessed by unnamed adversaries for strategic gain, it said on Sunday in a post on China's do-everything app WeChat.
China's State Security Ministry has in recent months published a raft of new measures and recommandations to heighten government and public vigilance about data, and to proactively protect what it views as a critical asset amid escalating global tensions and a technological rivalry with the United States.
The move indicated growing concerns over data security and was another step under President Xi Jinping to tightening controls over the flow of information in an already highly securitized state, both offline and online.
The ministry's data security campaign, a "special corrective to cut off evil hands," aims to explicitly curtail the misuse of GPS and other historical or real-time positoning data that might benefit foreign intelligence services, it said.
It said: "In response to the above, national security authorities, together with relevant departments, have carried out special investigations and regulation of security risks associated with geographical information data; guided and assisted the units involved in carrying out inspections and rectifications; and promptly eliminated major data theft, leaks and other security risks."
"Geographical information data is high-value intelligence and is the focus of intelligence theft by overseas spy agencies," its social media post read. China's enemies could use the information to reconstruct "three-dimensional landform maps of important areas linked to transportation, energy and defense," it said.
The data could support efforts in reconnaissance, surveillance and military operations, according to the ministry, which argued it could "seriously threaten China's military security."
Unnamed foreign organizations and individuals had "set their sights on this 'big cake' of geographical information data and are attempting to use geographical information system software to carry out intelligence theft," said the the ministry, highlighting the severity of the threat.
"Their methods include automatically connecting to overseas servers during the use of the software and collecting unlimited user data, and deliberately preinstalling 'backdoors' in the software to open the door to cyberattacks and data theft," it said.
As part of the crackdown, Beijing also appears ready to roll back the Chinese public's ability to conduct open-source research.
The agency said certain users with "a weak sense of data security" were marking the coordinates of data networks, military targets and classified units on publicly available maps online.
"This creates a serious risk of leaks and may result in irreparable losses," the ministry said.
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Aadil Brar is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers international security, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian ... Read more
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