Qi Xiangdong, a member of the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Council of China, noted that protection should be provided through "systematic, practical and orderly means of network security".BEIJING, March 4.
/tass/. The Ukrainian conflict has become a reminder to China of the need to strengthen the national cybersecurity system. This was stated on Saturday by Qi Xiangdong, a member of the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Council of China (the highest advisory body), the head of the country's leading provider of network security services Qi An Xin Group.
"We saw this during the cyber war that arose during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Key infrastructure facilities have become the main target for strikes," the Global Times newspaper quotes him as saying. - There is also a crisis situation in the field of cybersecurity. In the future, this [again] can happen at any time in real conditions."
According to Qi Xiangdong, the Ukrainian conflict is a "reminder" for China of the need to strengthen cybersecurity. He compared groups of specialists carrying out attacks on the network with "hands hiding in the shadows and always ready for a surprise attack."
"Protection must be provided through systematic, practical and orderly means of network security," the head of the company added.
As Qi Xiangdong noted, China faces technological obstacles in the field of cybersecurity. "First of all, we are talking about threat detection technologies and situational awareness. The essence of network protection is to recognize and predict, to track attacks, to block them and to implement measures aimed at stopping criminal actions," the political adviser said.
He recalled that the suppliers of leading software and equipment in the field of information technology are mainly foreign manufacturers who can easily collect important data about potential targets of cyber attacks, thereby making them vulnerable to the United States and other Western countries.
As Qi Xiangdong stressed, the PRC should increase funding for the national network security system. He noted that many Chinese departments and companies are still "taking a passive position when faced with cyber attacks." According to the head of Qi An Xin Group, the share of allocations for these purposes from the funds of state structures and government budget items for the allocation of funds for the development of non-defense information technologies in China is 3%, while in the United States - 16.57%.
The expert believes that if the PRC intends to be a leading cybernetic power, it should have its own highly developed information technologies. He also pointed out the need to replace foreign developments with domestic analogues.
"As the process of digital technology adoption accelerates, the role of cybersecurity as a fundamental basis will become more and more obvious," Qi Xiaodong summed up.
