Large-scale cyber surveillance schemes from state-linked hacking groups have just been revealed after troves of documents from a Chinese firm were leaked to the public.
A massive cache of more than 570 files, images, and chat logs were secretly posted on GitHub last week, showing plans for how cybercriminal groups exploit vulnerabilities in foreign software.
This is in addition to notes of Beijing's intelligence and military agencies directly working with hackers to monitor and track ethnicities, dissidents, and anti-government protesters.
Hundreds of pages of contracts, marketing presentations, and product manuals also include strategies for promoting Chinese government propaganda across social media.
The leaked catalogs reportedly came from Beijing-based cybersecurity firm I-Soon, the same company that has a powerful connection with China's Ministry of Public Security.
Two employees confirmed to Associated Press that documents from the company has indeed been breached and that a subsequent investigation has already been launched.
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Leaked Documents: Chinese Firm Infiltrated Foreign Gov't Departments
Aside from surveillance schemes to its locals, I-Soon's documents also detailed that at least 20 international governments have already been breached to collect data for over eight years now.
According to the BNN report, the Chinese firm has already infiltrated state departments from India, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Taiwan and Malaysia.
This does not include terabytes worth of recorded information from telecommunication companies in Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, and Taiwan.
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Leaked Chinese Documents Prove FBI's Warnings
If the leaked documents are indeed true, then it prove the warnings the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been reporting over the past months.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has earlier alerted Congress of increasing efforts from supposed state-sponsored bad actors from China, Russia, and South Korea threatening the US's cybersecurity.
Wray's warnings came after the agency intercepted several large-scale efforts to breach into US agencies, supposedly by hacking groups linked to China's intelligence department.
With the reports of the Asian superpower and its affiliated cybercrime groups employing AI to spy on other entities and institutions, the situation paints a grim future for the US government in the digital world.
The FBI has yet to provide a statement regarding the leaked documents.
