Before we delve into why exactly is China cyber spying on Finland, here are perhaps two of the most telling observations on the Oriental land. These, it ought to be said and must be believed, aren’t deliberate lies perpetrated to malign the Xi Jinping country but actual facts found by noted organisations such as the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, also known as the CSIS.
So here we go then:
As of March, 2021, which is half a year back in time, it was reported that nearly 30 per cent of all the global cyber attacks launched in the world originated from China. This made many pose a pertinent question: is Beijing really up to something ulterior and malicious, something that the rest of the world must now be aware of?
Back in 2014, the Federal Bureau of Intelligence, in the United States indicted no fewer than 5 Chinese hackers on accounts of economic and industrial espionage
Furthermore, half a decade back in time, the FBI also clearly identified 14 active Chinese cyber criminals, which again put renewed focus on the suspicious activities China is upto.
The above shouldn’t surprise that China’s unsolicited involvement in affairs of the other countries has been the unchanged narrative from the onset of the 2010s. But now, China’s online tentacles have reached Finland of all countries.
So why’s this even happening? Could the reason be the Finland is one of the vastly superior and widely noted start up ecosystems for tech-based organisations and should that be reason enough for China to poke its nose when it shouldn’t be doing so?
Furthermore, could it be that Google operates on the largest and most sophisticated data centres at Hamina, which is approximately 145 kms east of Helsinki that China is getting increasingly active on the world wide web space under various veils?
What’s important to note is that Finland operates as many as 10 data centres in its dominion, which includes 5 internet exchanges and 9 cloud nodes.
Is that something China be interested in?
Having said that, in order to get a clearer idea of what is happening from China’s end in Finland can be understand by what Scandasia.com had to report, something that’s both telling and indicative of what the Communist land is truly up to:
The goal of espionage for the states is to back their own policies and to influence policymakers in Finland, Supo explained. In addition, Finnish companies and educational institutions were also targeted, the report concluded.
These attacks could likely be happening in the form of ransomware attacks where elements like critical infrastructure are taken hostage by hackers who take over the control with their online control systems demanding some ransom to hand over control again. This form of attack was recently seen in the US where oil pipeline operator, Colonial Pipeline, was taken hostage by Russian hackers.