PLA “Online Blue Army” gets ready for cyber warfare
Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng hosts the ministry’s second regular press conference in Beijing, May 25, 2011. [Photo/China Daily, mod.gov.cn]
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) confirmed in May 2011 that it has established an “Online Blue Army” to improve China’s defense capability and ensure the security of the country’s military network. The announcement drew close attention from military watchers and experts worldwide.
Zhang Shaozhong, a military expert and a professor from PLA National Defense University, told the People’s Daily that China is increasingly dependent on the Internet, but makes no domestic root servers, and various other types of software and Internet hardware are U.S. made. In this sense, China can be described as merely a computer user with a fairly fragile Internet security system. These are circumstances that cry out for the build up of Internet security forces.
Throughout 2010, 480,000 Trojans viruses and 13,782 Zombie viruses were detected, with 221,000 Trojan and 6,531 Zombie remote control clients found to originate in foreign countries.
