Page 43 - EngineerIT October 2022

TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

Chinese and Russian partnerships in South Africa

should extend to the cyber realm

hile informal collectives of ‘friendly’ nations, like the
BRICS group, have met several times to discuss ways
Wof cooperating on the global state over the years,
these friendships do often have their limits. This is evident
where, whether by intention or omission, little action has been
taken by the governments of China and Russia to protect South
Africa from the less visible but critical threats of cyber crime
and political disinformation.
For example, in the last six months, Trellix, through its
extended detection and response (XDR) framework that
combines artificial intelligence, machine learning, and
automation, identified that most threat actors conducting cyber
crime campaigns in South Africa appear to reside in China or have been seen through South Africa’s alliance to BRICS
Russia – where both governments seemingly turn a blind eye countries such as Russia and China,” says Carlo Bolzonello,
to operators within their own jurisdictions as long as they don’t country lead for Trellix in South Africa. “In time, we hope
focus their attacks on victims within their own borders. These to see mutual support in the fight against cyber crime and
threat actors included Mustang Panda, APT10 in China, and disinformation become part of the close relationships with
APT28 and APT29 in Russia. these nations that we’ve forged.”
Russia took this reluctance to prosecute external cyber “Friends must act as friends, and China and Russia could
crime further in its 2021 proposal for the United Nations Treaty go far to avoid the label of ‘frenemy’ by helping us protect
on Cybercrime. Its Article 33 on the ‘collection of information ourselves from political interference and cybercrime,” says
transmitted by means of ICT’ refers to the interception of Carlo Bolzonello, country lead for Trellix in South Africa.
content and other data but is not precise enough to limit “The Chinese and Russian governments and corporate
interception to serious crimes. entities should extend the cooperation they have exhibited
In its quest for cyber sovereignty, China’s 2017 in extensive physical and digital infrastructure projects to
‘International Strategy of Cooperation on Cyberspace’ stresses support Cape Town’s efforts to confront the cyber crime and
that ‘countries should respect each other’s right to choose their political disinformation striking South Africa from within their
own path of cyber development, model of cyber regulation and borders.”
internet public policies, and participate in international cyber The impact of this malicious activity extends from national
space governance on an equal footing. political implications to the havoc that cyber criminals can
However, the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure wreak on businesses and state organisations – even having
Security Agency believes that the Chinese government engages real potential to topple economies, whether it’s through
in malicious cyber activities to pursue national interests. ransomware that could cripple an organisation operationally
Malicious cyber activities attributed to the Chinese government and financially, or through industrial espionage that could give
targeted and continue to target various industries, including a foreign business a competitive advantage in bidding for a
healthcare, financial services, defence, energy government state contract,” he explains.
facilities, critical manufacturing, communications, education Against this context, any organisation operating in South
and other organisations. Africa must take every measure possible to invest in platforms
It’s not just in the cyber crime realm that malicious and tools that offer a holistic cyber security ecosystem that
digital activity has been traced to Russia. The Africa Centre consolidates all security products into an interconnected,
for Strategic Studies revealed the country’s model of constantly communicating platform that always learns and
disinformation to gain political influence in Africa, including the adapts to new threats.
#IStandWithPutin and #IStandWithRussia campaigns in early “Organisations operating on this geopolitical landscape
2022, seen in South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria. must make themselves more aware of the immense cyber
Meanwhile, sizeable investments into South Africa’s critical security risks and threat campaigns confronting them,”
infrastructure were being made by both China and Russia Bolzonello continues. “They must also insist on compliance
during this same period – raising some red flags about their with POPIA and GDPR and require any entities with which they
potential access to our country’s vital systems. interact in an operational capacity to subscribe to a similar or
“There are so many positive outcomes and benefits that better approach to cyber security.”

EngineerIT | October 2022 | 41