Sino-Cyber Espionage: An Introduction to the Exploits of Units 61398 and 61486 in the People’s Liberation Army of China

Abstract

This paper begins with an overview of the two most notorious hacking divisions of the People’s Liberation Army. It draws from several different articles concerning the state of the internet from Congress, CrowdStrike, Verizon, and Akamai as well as reports from the United States Department of Justice. The scope of this paper is limited because of the level of security clearance needed to access the real information on the exploits of the Chinese in the corporate sector, but the ramifications of said exploits are clear. The discussion provides examples from the Department of Justice on what the Chinese have done to American companies and some of the strategies that they have used. It also expounds on some of the repercussions of the strategies on the markets that were affected. Statistics are given from The Economist and Wired magazines that sourced the state of the internet reports from Verizon and Akamai. The recommendations are mainly ideas of International Relations to try to keep peace between the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America. Extreme measures must, however, be considered if there are any more exploited vulnerabilities in the federal sector. This paper mainly serves to inform the reader of the attacks that the Chinese use, who they target and why, and possible solutions to the problem of cyber corporate espionage.