China steps up its cyber defense capabilities in IoT era with nation’s first cybersecurity base

As the surging development of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and blockchain technologies pose unprecedented new challenges to data security, China is ramping up efforts to beef up its cyber defense capabilities for sound security in the Internet of Things (IoT) era.

Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, the Information Security Technology Conference & Expo 2018 was held in Qingdao, East China’s Shandong province. Cybersecurity officials from the Ministry of Public Security, Cybersecurity Association of China, and other organizations gathered with experts to brainstorm methods to combat data hacking and data leakage as well as to develop the country’s security technology industry.

Meanwhile, the host city of Qingdao has unveiled China’s first nationwide information security technology industrial base, which has attracted 48 firms with a total investment of 5.35 billion yuan ($776 million).

Some of China’s top cybersecurity firms, including Zhongfu Information and Venustech, have established branches in the industrial park, pledging to take the lead in incubating more start-ups in information security. China’s 360 Enterprise Security Group also provides a training platform in the base, eyeing to groom up to 600 young IT workers annually, especially from state-owned companies, civil service sectors, and the defense industry, into professional security analysts and engineers. The center is also able to receive over a thousand visitors for cybersecurity awareness training each month.

“Chinese colleges and universities see 15,000 to 30,000 graduates majoring in internet security each year, while the country requires a total of 700,000 to 1 million cybersecurity specialists. It’s the responsibility of companies to invest more on grooming talents and fill in the shortage,” said Qi Xiangdong, chairman of 360 Enterprise Security Group, in an interview with People’s Daily’s Overseas Social Media.

Experts noted the importance of protecting large energy companies such as oil exploitation firms and power plants, as data leakage could reveal a regions’ industrial capacity and attacks to their networks could cause power outages and incite public chaos. Data leakage from hospitals and schools may disclose the demography of a region. Corporate network security is also closely linked to national security, as leakage of production volume or price information may give other countries the higher hand in global trade negotiations.

“Traditional defense and encryption methods have become outdated in the era of cloud computing and advanced persistent threats often orchestrated by persons targeting a specific state or large companies are increasingly posing new threats. To counter the new challenges, we have to rely on supercomputers, AI, and big data to identify the threats and give a timely response,” Qi added.

The boom of smart cities, IoT, and other technological advances are pushing the development of cybersecurity sector onto a fast track. Revenue from China’s internet security industry reached 43.5 billion yuan ($6.34 billion) in 2017, marking an increase of 22.9 percent year-on-year. Revenue from China’s internet security industry this year is expected to increase to 52 billion yuan, a report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology showed.