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One expert said some of the evidence presented by the administration was a normal reaction to the ongoing trade war between the United States and China. | Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images
Cyber security
Beijing is still involved in cyberattacks against other targets, they say.
The White House says China intervenes mid-term is not loyal to experts and cybersecurity companies who have long followed digital espionage operations and propaganda campaigns in Beijing.
"I am not aware of any credible elements having a direct link to China's targeted influence on electoral influence," said Ron Bushar, chief technology officer at FireEye, a company cybersecurity that has been tracking Chinese hackers for years.
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"There is certainly no evidence of manipulation, piracy or piracy online Russian-style," said Adam Segal, expert in cyber-China and Chinese expert Council on Foreign Relations.
Last month, President Donald Trump spoke of the idea that Russia is not the only country to undermine the American democratic process. In a speech to the United Nations last week, he said that "China has tried to interfere in the upcoming elections of 2018 to be held against my administration in November."
Vice President Mike Pence repeated the remarks in a speech on Thursday. "China has launched an unprecedented effort to influence the American public, the 2018 elections and the environment that led to the 2020 presidential elections," he told reporters. Hudson Institute.
Neither Trump nor Pence explicitly accused China of organizing the types of social media monitoring efforts or multiple coordinated cyberattacks that the United States has accused of leading Russia in the 2016 race. But Trump compared the behavior of the two countries, saying last month that China "is trying to meddle in our elections, and we will not let that happen, just as we will not let that happen with Russia."
Yet, Chinese observers have seen no effort on the part of Beijing to launch a campaign of misinformation or propaganda aimed at shifting the mid-term elections in one way or another. .
There is, of course, ample evidence that Chinese hackers have infiltrated US companies and international human rights groups and continue to conduct operations to steal US intellectual property. But the cyber-researchers say there is no indication for the moment that their hackers have turned to the US political process as part of any concerted campaign to undermine Trump.
These include experts from FireEye, a firm whose job has included uncovering US corporate infiltration operations and law firms for the purpose of stealing intellectual property or to hack non-profit organizations and think tanks to keep abreast of potential policy changes.
In 2015, the company identified a Chinese computer hacking group which, in its view, would be responsible for the massive violation of the Office of Personnel Management, in which highly confidential documents relating to security clearances covering more than 20 million employees and former federal employees were stolen. More recently, the company has discovered alleged digital influence operations in Russia and Iran on Facebook and Twitter. He also discovered what he calls a massive North Korean hacking operation to steal millions of dollars from banks around the world.
Some of the evidence provided by the administration – such as an announcement in the Des Moines Register – is a normal reaction to the ongoing trade war between Trump and China, Segal told CFR. And despite Trump's claims, he added, China still does not seem to have decided whether it wants Trump's reelection.
He suggested that the White House is trying to divert the attention of Russia's computer hacking activities to give more ammunition to Trump in his commercial battle with China or to help divert attention from political issues and internal legal.
Recorded Future, a cybersecurity company that in August said it detected a computer hacking operation uncovered by a major Chinese university to steal trade and government secrets from the United States, also cast doubt on claims of the White House.
"We did not observe such behavior against the US elections even though we are seeing a lot of Chinese activity in general," Christopher Ahlberg, CEO of Recorded Future, told POLITICO.
In her own remarks on the subject this week, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen presented a more nuanced description of Trump's allegations that the so-called Chinese operation would be more subtle, longer-term and "more holistic". "than that of Russia in 2016.
While the Kremlin wanted to create chaos, Nielsen said at an event organized by the Washington Post, Beijing is more interested in a "longer game" of US public opinion's influence over China.
In the meantime, she added, DHS has not found any attempt to pirate election equipment from China or anyone else. "We currently have no indication that a foreign opponent is attempting to disrupt our electoral infrastructure," Nielsen said.
Dmitry Alperovich, chief technical officer of the company CrowdStrike, who investigated the violation of the Democratic National Committee by Russia, said at the same event that China had returned to cyberattacks on US industry in the last 18 years month. This rise follows a retreat after the conclusion by Washington and Beijing of an agreement reached in 2015 to ban computer theft for economic purposes.
"We do not see much in terms of elections," Alperovitch said.
Tim Starks contributed to this report.
