Hybrid warfare

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

Early this month, the Chinese-only website of Zhenhua Data Information Technology Co, the company monitoring foreign targets, was pulled down

Concept:

• It targets individuals and institutions in politics, government, business, technology, media, and civil society.
• Claiming to work with Chinese intelligence, military and security agencies, Zhenhua monitors the subject’s digital footprint across social media platforms, maintains an “information library,” which includes content not just from news sources, forums, but also from papers, patents, bidding documents, even positions of recruitment.
• Significantly, it builds a “relational database”, which records and describes associations between individuals, institutions, and information. Collecting such massive data and weaving in public or sentiment analysis around these targets, Zhenhua offers threat intelligence services
• A shift in the arena of violence from military to political, economic and technological is called hybrid warfare.
• It refers to the use of unconventional methods as part of a multi-domain war fighting approach. These methods aim to disrupt and disable an opponent’s actions without engaging in open hostilities.