China has released a warning against the use of foreign geographic software after it found information about its essential infrastructure and military was being leaked.
While the Ministry of State security did not attribute any blame, it did state that the software in question was built with “backdoors” to allow deliberate access to data.
Military, energy and transportation at risk
The Chinese government released a statement via its official WeChat account stating that data collected by foreign software included state secrets, "posing a serious threat to China's national security".
According to Reuters, the data at risk includes high-precision geographic information and three-dimensional geomorphological mapping relating to key industries including transport, energy and military.
As a result of heightened global tensions, increasing the security of key industries has been a priority for China, especially following an increase in saber rattling towards Taiwan and continued US reassurances towards the island nation.
China is suspected of being behind a number of recent cyberattacks probing US infrastructure, in order to develop an attack playbook in the event of war between the two superpowers.
The US has also been taking steps to secure domestic production of semiconductors for its military by investing several billions dollars, as part of the CHIPS Act, to build factories across the US. This has been deemed as an investment in national security, as current imports from production hubs in East Asia are at risk of Chinese espionage.
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