March 05, 2024
Indo-Pacific nations need to put more focus on cybersecurity
Recent developments point to a troubling reality: China is increasingly embracing cyberattacks as a geopolitical weapon.
Last month, Japanese officials disclosed that Chinese hackers had intercepted confidential diplomatic cables through cyberattacks on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ahead of Taiwan's election the previous month, the island experienced a huge surge in Chinese cyberattacks. U.S. FBI Director Christopher Wray, meanwhile, testified in Congress that Chinese hackers were preparing to "wreak havoc and cause real-world harm" by infiltrating critical American infrastructure.
Regional cyber insecurity could also limit the economic gains of digital connectivity.
Combined with ongoing Russian and North Korean cyberaggression and new artificial intelligence-powered threats, the cybersecurity landscape of the Indo-Pacific region appears increasingly ominous.
At stake is not just data security, but the depth of regional ties. Governments and businesses can only connect and cooperate to the extent they trust their counterparts' network security.
American ambitions to strengthen ties across the Indo-Pacific region cannot escape the reality of growing cyber threats and vulnerabilities. Viewed this way, regional cyber insecurity could benefit China, Russia and North Korea simply by hindering U.S. cooperation.
Read the full article from Nikkei Asia.
More from CNAS
-
Sharper: America’s Edge
Commentary
A volatile global security environment requires the United States and its allies to develop new tactics and capabilities to deal with novel global threats. On June 3, policyma...
By Charles Horn
-
Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure on DOE Lands
Commentary
Maintaining America’s lead in AI data centers is critical for U.S. AI dominance....
By Caleb Withers, Janet Egan & Spencer Michaels
-
Droning On: How Ukraine and Russia Have Revolutionized Drone Warfare
Podcast
In this episode of Three Questions, Paul Saunders speaks with Samuel Bendett, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Mr. Bendett is a military ana...
By Samuel Bendett
-
Tariffs and Tech: An Uncertain Recipe
Commentary
Higher tariffs could prompt American cloud companies to shift more of their capital investments abroad....
By Pablo Chavez
