China’s Secret Digital Army — The Invisible Force Behind Modern Warfare - video Dailymotion

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China’s Secret Digital Army — The Invisible Force Behind Modern Warfare  Dive into the unseen world of China’s cyber warfare empire. In this video, we reveal how a vast, covert digital force within the PLA and state-backed agencies has become one of the most formidable threats to U.S. national security. From Salt Typhoon hacks targeting the U.S. National Guard to the creation of the PLA Cyberspace Force and shadow hacker armies, this invisible conflict shapes our digital future.  🎯 What You’ll Discover:  The rise of China’s Cyberspace Force, launched in April 2024, and its global offensive reach    Inside Salt Typhoon: how Chinese cyber units breached U.S. critical infrastructure networks    Elite units like PLA Unit 61398 (APT1) and civilian-hacker militias—what makes them so dangerous    China’s integration of AI, quantum tech & psychological warfare to build “informationized” dominance    How this digital army could cripple communications, steal secrets, and sway public opinion—WITHOUT firing a shot    ---  🌍 Why It Matters for Americans:  China’s cyber tools aren’t hypothetical—they’re shifting power balances in finance, national defense, and political influence. Understanding these hidden battles is essential for protecting U.S. interests and securing our future.  --- 00:00 - Introduction: The Hidden Cyber War   01:40 - What Is China’s Digital Army?   03:30 - Inside the PLA Cyberspace Force   06:00 - Salt Typhoon: The 2024 U.S. Cyberattack Explained   08:45 - China's Elite Hacker Units: PLA Unit 61398 & More   11:20 - How AI and Quantum Tech Power China’s Cyber Strategy   13:50 - Real-World Attacks on U.S. Infrastructure   16:10 - Information Warfare & Psychological Operations   18:30 - How China's Civilian Hacker Militias Operate   20:10 - Is the U.S. Falling Behind? Global Implications   22:00 - What This Means for America's Future Security   23:20 - Final Thoughts & Call to Action   23:50 - Subscribe & Watch More Global Threat Exposés ---  🔗 Join the Conversation  👉 What concerns you most: digital sabotage, espionage, or AI-driven propaganda? 💬 Comment below with your take—and subscribe for deep dives into tech, security, and global strategy.   ---  #Hashtags (YouTube Description Format):  #ChinaCyberArmy #CyberWarfare #USSecurity #SaltTyphoon #PLACyberspaceForce #DigitalArmy #ModernWarfare #CyberEspionage #TechThreat #InvisibleWar   ---

Transcript

00:00Today, we're plunging into something that honestly sounds like sci-fi, but it's very real.

00:05We're talking about China's digital army.

00:07Yeah, it's a fascinating topic.

00:09You sent over a really interesting stack of sources.

00:11And our mission today is basically to unpack what this is, this, you know, highly sophisticated capability.

00:18What's its purpose, its doctrine, and how's it changing the game?

00:22Well, what's really striking is that we're not talking about soldiers on the ground in the traditional sense, not primarily anyway.

00:28Right.

00:28It's fundamentally an information-centric approach to, well, to conflict.

00:34Our sources point to two key doctrines here.

00:36First, there's informatized warfare.

00:38Okay.

00:39That's using advanced battlefield networks, cyber capability, sensors, that sort of thing.

00:44But then there's the next step, intelligentized warfare.

00:48Intelligentized.

00:48That sounds significant.

00:50It is.

00:51This is where AI really comes into play.

00:53We're talking AI-driven drones, robotic systems potentially taking direct combat roles, with AI making tactical calls, and human soldiers becoming more like AI coordinators.

01:05They're explicitly trying to skip generations of technology with this push.

01:11Okay.

01:12Skipping generations.

01:13That's a huge ambition.

01:14So why?

01:16Why this massive focus?

01:18What's the driver behind building this digital army?

01:21That's a great question.

01:22It gets right to their strategic thinking.

01:24The sources suggest the U.S. performance in the Gulf War was a huge wake-up call for them.

01:29Ah, okay.

01:30A long-term reaction, then.

01:31Exactly.

01:31A long-term commitment, really.

01:33Right.

01:33And it fits perfectly with Sun Tzu, you know, the idea of winning without fighting.

01:37Their goals here are layered.

01:39Layered how?

01:40Okay.

01:40So first, it's about information dominance.

01:43Think command and control warfare.

01:45The idea is to blind and deafen the enemy.

01:47Blind and deaf?

01:47How?

01:48By destroying or jamming their information systems, their satellites, their comms.

01:53Undermine their decision-making.

01:54The ultimate goal.

01:55Maybe even end a war before it really starts.

01:58Incidional knockout blow, essentially, before things get kinetic.

02:00Precisely.

02:01Then second, there's the economic and technological espionage.

02:05Right.

02:05Stealing secrets.

02:06But on an industrial scale, it's systematic cyber espionage to grab intellectual property,

02:11slash their own R&D costs.

02:13And here's where it gets really interesting.

02:16Okay.

02:16They often use private companies, contractors, you know, non-state actors to do the hacking.

02:22It obscures the government's hand.

02:25Plausible deniability.

02:26Exactly.

02:27Plus, their legal system actually requires civilian tech companies to report software vulnerabilities

02:33to the government first, before telling the public, before patching, maybe.

02:37Wait, really?

02:37So the government gets first crack?

02:39Yeah.

02:39It creates this constant feed, this vulnerability pipeline, for the state to potentially exploit.

02:46Wow.

02:46Okay.

02:46That's a built-in advantage.

02:48How does this connect to influencing people, then?

02:50Well, that's the third piece.

02:51Influence operations.

02:52They call it the three warfare.

02:53Three warfare.

02:54Public opinion warfare, psychological warfare, and legal warfare, or lawfare.

02:59It's about shaping perceptions, undermining morale, using legal arguments internationally,

03:04all to achieve strategic goals without actually fighting, often in that murky gray zone.

03:09That space below outright conflict.

03:12Yeah.

03:12Got it.

03:12And there was a fourth objective, something about setting up beforehand.

03:17Yes.

03:18Absolutely crucial.

03:19Pre-positioning for conflict.

03:21This is maybe the most alarming part for some observers.

03:23How so?

03:23Groups, like the one identified as Volt Typhoon, aren't just spying.

03:28They seem to be burrowing deep into critical infrastructure in other countries.

03:32Like what kind of infrastructure?

03:33Power grids, water systems, communications networks, ports.

03:38The idea seems to be setting up the ability to cause major disruption, or even destruction,

03:43right at the start of a potential crisis.

03:45So, like, if tensions flared over Taiwan, they could flip a switch.

03:49That's the concern, yes.

03:51Immediate, widespread disruption as day one capability.

03:55That's pretty chilling.

03:56So, with all these different, how do they organize it?

03:58And what about this secret aspect we talked about?

04:00Good question.

04:01And organizationally, they made a big move in 2015, creating the Strategic Support Force,

04:06the SSF.

04:07It basically pulled together a lot of these space, cyber, and electronic warfare units.

04:12Centralizing things.

04:13Right.

04:14But then, just this year, April 2024, they actually dissolved the SSF.

04:20Dissolved it?

04:20Why?

04:21It looks less like a step back and more like specialization.

04:24They split its functions into three new independent forces.

04:27The aerospace force, think space, satellites, you know, no satellite, no fight, is their

04:33thinking.

04:33Then, the cyberspace force, explicitly treating cyber as a primary battlefield.

04:38And the information support force, likely handling things like psychological operations

04:43and network defense.

04:44So, refining the focus for each domain.

04:46Exactly.

04:47Optimizing.

04:48And that secret dimension.

04:49A huge part of that is civil-military fusion.

04:51How did that work?

04:52Well, the state essentially leverages the entire civilian tech sector.

04:56Project IT companies, university researchers, contractors are all potentially part of the effort.

05:01Laws require cooperation, giving access to data and systems.

05:05So, the line between a civilian tech company and the military gets blurry.

05:09Extremely blurry.

05:10Deliberately so.

05:11It makes it incredibly hard to pinpoint where attacks are coming from or who is truly responsible.

05:16They also use sophisticated tactics like living off the land.

05:19Living off the land.

05:20Using the target's own legitimate software tools and credentials to move around their network,

05:25making the intrusion much harder to detect.

05:28It looks like normal activity.

05:29Wow.

05:31Stealthy.

05:32Okay, so pulling this all together.

05:33Yeah.

05:33What does this mean for you, the listener?

05:37Well, I think this deep dive shows that China's digital army isn't just one thing.

05:42It's this comprehensive, state-run capability.

05:46Right.

05:47It's designed to achieve their national goals, security, projecting power, using information,

05:52technology, psychology, often without ever firing a traditional shot.

05:56Yeah.

05:57And for you listening, it means really understanding that modern conflict, modern power,

06:01it isn't just tanks and jets anymore.

06:03It's this mix of, you know, civilian tech, laws, military strategy.

06:08It really challenges our old ideas about war and peace.

06:10Absolutely.

06:11Really touches on global security, on the very nature of modern conflict, China's digital army.

06:18We're going beyond just, you know, standard cyber attacks here.

06:21We want to understand the sprawling, highly strategic force.

06:25Right.

06:25And what we're aiming to uncover for you isn't just what they do, but the, frankly, surprising

06:31organizational structure, how their capabilities have evolved and how they operate.

06:35Some really fascinating tactics there for, like, deniability and future-proofing their influence.

06:40Precisely.

06:41China's military strategy has, I mean, it's profoundly shifted.

06:45They see cyberspace not as some add-on, but as a primary battlefield.

06:49A primary battlefield.

06:50Yeah.

06:50The goal seems to be preemptive dominance, controlling the information flow.

06:53It's moving way beyond traditional war funder to integrate space, cyber, electronic, and, importantly,

06:59psychological capabilities.

07:01It's a unified digital front.

07:02Okay.

07:03So, starting at the top, who's really pulling the strings in this elaborate command structure?

07:08Well, ultimate authority rests with the Central Military Commission, the CMC.

07:13Yeah.

07:13That's chaired by Xi Jinping himself.

07:14Okay.

07:15This really ensures the Chinese Communist Party's absolute command over all armed forces.

07:20It embodies that principle you hear.

07:22The party commands the gun.

07:24So, tightly controlled right at the peak.

07:26But our sources, they point to a really complex network below that.

07:30How does this Central Command actually, you know, execute things across all these different

07:36agencies?

07:37That's a great question.

07:38While the Strategic Command is centralized, the operational execution is very distributed.

07:44You've got major players like the People's Liberation Army, the PLA, obviously, the Ministry

07:48of State Security, the MSS, that's their main civilian intelligence agency.

07:52Then there's the Ministry of Public Security, MPS, handling domestic stuff, and even the Cyberspace

07:58Administration of China, the CA.

08:00A lot of players.

08:01A lot.

08:01And what's really striking, I think, is the autonomy given to provincial departments and

08:06their increasing reliance on, well, private companies and contractors.

08:10Ah, outsourcing.

08:11Exactly.

08:11Yeah.

08:11Outsourcing offensive capabilities.

08:13Yeah.

08:14This helps obscure direct government links, give them deniability, and lets them scale operations

08:19massively.

08:20That blurring of lines, state and private, that's definitely a key takeaway here.

08:24So speaking of the PLA, there have been huge reforms recently, right?

08:28How has their specific cyber setup changed?

08:31Yeah, this is where things get really interesting, showing the strategic shifts.

08:35Back in 2015, the PLA set up the Strategic Support Force, the SSF.

08:40Right, I remember that, centralizing everything.

08:42Centralizing cyberspace, electronic warfare, psych ops, all of it.

08:46But then, boom, April 2024, the SSF was dissolved.

08:50Dissolved.

08:50Wow.

08:51What does taking apart such a central force actually, you know, signify?

08:54What's the thinking?

08:55Well, it doesn't look like just moving boxes around.

08:58It seems to be a strategic pivot towards what they call intelligentized warfare, greater

09:02specialization.

09:04So the SSS functions were basically spun out into three new independent arms, and these

09:09now report directly to the CMC.

09:11No intermediary layer.

09:12Exactly.

09:13You got the PLA Aerospace Force, the Information Support Force, and the big one for our discussion,

09:19the People's Liberation Army Cyberspace Force, or PCF.

09:23It signals a real commitment to multi-domain dominance.

09:27For specialized direct oversight.

09:29So what does this new cyberspace force, the PCF, actually do?

09:33Is it purely offensive?

09:35Well, it definitely handles offensive cyber ops, electronic warfare, psychological operations,

09:39R&D, all that.

09:41But what's just as important, and maybe a bit surprising, is the very explicit focus on

09:46defensive resilience.

09:48Ah, defense too.

09:49Yes.

09:49That new information support force, the ISF, its job is specifically building resilient

09:54networks, ensuring military comms stay up.

09:57They even run drills, like repairing fiber optic cables under simulated attack scenarios.

10:02Wow.

10:02It shows a deep investment, not just in being able to attack, but in being able to endure

10:06and win a sustained cyber conflict, kind of future-proofing their own digital space.

10:11That dual focus offense and resilience, that makes them even more formidable.

10:15Okay, let's talk specific units, names like APT-1 or PUT or PANDA, might ring a bell for

10:19some listeners, still around?

10:20Those historical units, yeah.

10:22Unit 61398, APT-1, famous for industrial espionage, IP theft.

10:27Right.

10:28And Unit 61486, PUT or AMDA, which focused on satellite tech.

10:33They've most likely been integrated into these newer structures, probably within the PCF.

10:37Makes sense.

10:38Their public exposure probably forced them underground a bit more.

10:41Absolutely.

10:42Pushed them towards more clandestine methods, adapting their tradecraft.

10:46And speaking of adapting, the Ministry of State Security, the MSS, they were linked to

10:50those huge HAFNIM attacks on Microsoft Exchange.

10:54That's right.

10:55The MSS conducts really extensive cyber espionage, HAFNIM, yes, but also things like the theft

11:02of COVID-19 research data.

11:03And they use those contractors we mentioned.

11:05Heavily.

11:05What really stands out with the MSS is that significant reliance on private firms, like

11:10Shanghai Power Rock was one named.

11:12These companies find vulnerabilities, exploit them, that basically sell the information back

11:16to the government.

11:17Scale and deniability again.

11:18Exactly.

11:19It's classic intelligence tradecraft adapted for the cyber age.

11:22Plausible deniability, expanded reach.

11:24Okay.

11:24So this brings us right up to a major current concern.

11:29Volt Typhoon.

11:30What makes this group so different, so worrying?

11:33Volt Typhoon, which is believed to be a PLA cyber unit, seems to be playing a different

11:38game than just espionage.

11:40How so?

11:41Since about mid-2021, they've been detected pre-positioning themselves inside U.S. critical

11:47infrastructure.

11:48Pre-positioning, meaning?

11:50Meaning getting access before they might need it.

11:52Yeah.

11:52Across communications networks, energy grids, transportation systems, water treatment plants.

11:57Critical stuff.

11:58The most critical stuff.

11:59Yeah.

11:59The objective appears to be setting the stage for disruptive or even destructive cyber attacks

12:04if a major crisis erupts, particularly, say, over Taiwan.

12:09And how do they stay hidden doing that?

12:10They use techniques called living off the land, basically using the legitimate tools already

12:14built into the target network, standard Windows commands, PowerShell, things system admins

12:19use every day.

12:20So they blend in.

12:21Perfectly.

12:22It makes them incredibly hard to detect, like a burglar using your own tools against you.

12:26They even hijack things like home or small office riders, vulnerable internet devices

12:31to route their traffic and hide their tracks, maintain that persistent access.

12:37That's a genuinely chilling prospect just lurking inside the systems we rely on every day.

12:41OK, so let's try and bring this all together.

12:43Big picture.

12:44What are the main implications here?

12:46What's the key takeaway from this deep dive?

12:48I think the main takeaway is that China's digital army isn't just one thing.

12:52It's a sophisticated, highly adaptable, multilayered force.

12:56You've got that centralized strategic command under the party, but then this decentralized,

13:01often outsourced execution that provides deniability.

13:04They're rapidly specializing their military cyber teams, like with the PCF, while also,

13:09crucially, pouring resources into their own defense of resilience makes attributing attacks

13:14difficult and the overall threat incredibly complex and dynamic.

13:17So maybe the final question for you, for the listener, is this.

13:21How does this complex blend state-controlled private contractors hiding in plain sight within

13:27critical infrastructure?

13:29How does that redefine what we traditionally think of as cyber warfare?

13:33And maybe more importantly, what does it demand from nations trying to protect their own digital

13:37foundations?

13:37It really highlights just how fast this global digital landscape keeps evolving.

13:41And this isn't just about the usual military hardware, you know, tanks and jets.

13:46It feels like a really profound strategic shift.

13:49Our sources keep pointing to China's doctrine of intelligentized warfare.

13:53It seems like information and, well, artificial intelligence are becoming the main event,

13:58the central battlefields.

13:59Yeah, absolutely.

14:00And what's truly fascinating, I think, is how deeply this approach connects back to,

14:06well, ancient military thinking.

14:08You know, Sun Tzu's whole emphasis on winning without the big clash of arms.

14:12That's kind of the vibe here.

14:13It's about hitting the adversary's nervous system, you could say, their command, their

14:18intel.

14:19Right.

14:19Disrupting their ability to think and act.

14:22So our mission for you, the listener, is to cut through some of this complexity.

14:25We want to reveal the maybe surprising technologies and strategies that are really driving this

14:30transformation.

14:31So maybe start with the structure.

14:32How is China's military adapting at the very top?

14:35Well, at the absolute peak, you've got the Central Military Commission, the CMC.

14:39It's highly centralized and it directly oversees all these digital capabilities.

14:44And there was a pretty significant reorganization just recently.

14:48They actually dissolved the Strategic Support Force, the SSF.

14:52Its functions were basically split into three new distinct arms, all reporting straight to

14:57the CMC.

14:58Okay.

14:58Three new arms.

14:59Yeah, the Cyber Space Force, the Information Support Force, and the Aerospace Force.

15:03The whole move seems geared towards greater functional clarity, better interoperability, really honing

15:09things for this intelligentized warfare.

15:11That seems incredibly deliberate, very focused.

15:14And what about this military-civil fusion, or MCF?

15:17Sources describe it as, well, pretty aggressive, not just cooperation.

15:21Oh, it's definitely aggressive.

15:22It's a national policy designed specifically to tear down the walls between civilian research,

15:29commercial tech, and the military.

15:31The goal is basically to harness all the country's tech ecosystems for military advantage.

15:35And that directly fuels their tech capabilities, I assume.

15:37Massively.

15:38It leads to some incredibly advanced tools.

15:40Take AI, for instance.

15:41It's way beyond just battlefield analysis now.

15:44We're talking AI-driven autonomous systems.

15:46Think drone swarms designed to just overwhelm defenses.

15:50And even those robotic dogs, we've seen them in simulations working alongside soldiers in

15:55urban settings.

15:56Wow.

15:56Robotic dogs.

15:58And AI for information warfare, too.

16:00Definitely.

16:01Generative AI is huge for disinformation campaigns, creating really convincing deepfics, other synthetic

16:08content, and also for crafting sophisticated phishing attacks against adversaries.

16:12It's a powerful tool for that.

16:14So it's this completely integrated digital intelligence network pulling from all these

16:17advanced frontiers.

16:18Exactly right.

16:19And another critical area feeding this is quantum computing.

16:23We're seeing real advancements in things like quantum sensing.

16:25The potential there is, for example, locating submarines without needing satellites, plus the development

16:30of quantum communications aiming for theoretically unbreakable data transmission.

16:35Secure C2 is vital.

16:36Unbreakable comms.

16:37Wow.

16:38And does this digital reach blend with their known surveillance capabilities?

16:43Absolutely.

16:44It all gets integrated.

16:45Think about the vast civilian mass surveillance data, like from projects like Skynet, what,

16:50over 700 million cameras.

16:52That data gets folded into military and security intelligence.

16:56It allows for incredibly sophisticated targeting.

16:59And this reach logically extends upwards, too, into space.

17:02What's the play there?

17:04Space is completely critical.

17:05China's satellite presence just in the last decade has jumped something like 620 percent,

17:11especially ISR, SATs, Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance.

17:15But crucially, they're also developing anti-satellite capabilities, ASAT weapons, very aggressive.

17:20Anti-sats, right.

17:21What kind are we talking about?

17:22It's a mix.

17:22Kinetic kill vehicles, co-orbital systems satellites that can sidle up to others, plus lasers,

17:27jammers.

17:28The stated aim is pretty blunt, blinding and deafening the enemy in a conflict.

17:32It fundamentally changes modern warfare, if you could do that.

17:35Okay.

17:35So you have this advanced tech, this structure.

17:37How does it translate into like an operational playbook?

17:40What are they doing with it?

17:41Well, in cyber warfare, we're seeing a definite shift.

17:43It's less about just espionage now and more about pre-positioning, placing cyber capabilities

17:50inside critical infrastructure around the world.

17:52Think of the Volt Typhoon incidents targeting U.S. communications, energy transport sectors.

17:58The idea seems to be readiness for disruptive, maybe even destructive attacks if a crisis hits.

18:05And that ties into their broader three-warfares doctrine, doesn't it?

18:07The psychological, public opinion side.

18:09It fits perfectly.

18:10That doctrine, public opinion, psychological, and legal warfare, we see it used, for example,

18:15in the South China Sea context.

18:17And tools like AI and deepfakes just massively escalate the potential scale.

18:21And frankly, the sophistication of these campaigns.

18:25The aim is to shape global views, undermine trust, discredit democratic processes.

18:29It's a whole integrated multi-domain challenge.

18:32It really hammers home how information itself, perception, is becoming maybe the primary battlefield.

18:37That's the core of it.

18:38And interestingly, you even see some concerns bubbling up internally among Chinese defense thinkers,

18:43apparently.

18:44Worries that this push into AI autonomy could lead to conflicts that escalate, you know,

18:49rapidly, uncontrollably, maybe even catastrophically.

18:53So wrapping this up, a final thought for you, the listener, to consider.

18:57What does this whole comprehensive strategy really mean for how nations even define conflict

19:01anymore?

19:02How do you prepare when winning might be more about controlling information and perception

19:06than traditional kinetic force?

19:07Looking at China's cyber power, this idea of a secret digital army, what does it mean

19:14for, you know, global stability, the economy, and really, for you?

19:18Well, it's fundamental to understand that China sees cyberspace as a core battlefield, absolutely

19:23central.

19:24Not just a domain, but the domain.

19:25Exactly.

19:26They're aiming for what they term informationized warfare.

19:30It's about weaving IT into, well, everything military for strategic advantage.

19:36And they have these unique concepts driving it, right?

19:38Like military-civil fusion.

19:40Yeah.

19:40That and cyber sovereignty.

19:42Their idea of total control over their digital space.

19:45Okay.

19:45So let's unpack that first one.

19:47Military-civil fusion.

19:48What does that actually look like?

19:49It's essentially a state mandate.

19:50You have these huge private tech firms, Huawei, Alibaba, Tencent.

19:54A big name.

19:55The big ones, yeah.

19:56They're required to collaborate with the military.

19:58It's not just getting more hackers.

20:01It's systemic.

20:02It is.

20:02It deliberately blurs the line.

20:04You get this huge interconnected web of operators, much harder to track than, say, a traditional

20:10military unit.

20:11And it makes attribution really difficult, trying to figure out who did what.

20:16Extremely difficult.

20:17Is it the state?

20:19Is it a patriotic hacker working with tacit approval?

20:22Is it a contracted private firm?

20:24It creates strategic ambiguity.

20:27And there's more, isn't there?

20:28Something about software vulnerability.

20:30Oh, yes.

20:31That's quite concerning.

20:33Civilian companies must report software flaws, vulnerabilities directly to the state.

20:37Before telling the software vendor.

20:39Or the public.

20:41Before anyone else.

20:42So the state gets first dibs.

20:43This helps them build up a massive arsenal of zero-day exploits.

20:47Flaws that nobody else knows about yet.

20:48Exactly.

20:49It gives them a huge asymmetric advantage because they operate with, let's say, fewer self-imposed

20:54ethical constraints than some other nations.

20:56Which leads us to this next kind of alarming development.

20:59This isn't just spying or IP theft anymore, is it?

21:02No.

21:02It's evolved.

21:03We're seeing groups like Volt Typhoon.

21:05They're doing what's called pre-positioning.

21:07Meaning they're embedding themselves deep inside critical infrastructure networks.

21:12Quietly.

21:13Critical infrastructure.

21:14So communications, power grids.

21:16Communications, energy, water systems, transportation hubs.

21:20The lifelines of a modern society.

21:22But not attacking immediately.

21:23Just sitting there.

21:24Waiting.

21:24It's about enabling future sabotage.

21:27The capability to disrupt, potentially paralyze these systems during a crisis.

21:34So for you listening, imagine the chaos if the power grid went down or communications failed.

21:39Not because of a storm, but a hidden digital actor.

21:42It's a major paradigm shift from espionage, which is bad enough, to actively holding critical infrastructure hostage.

21:49Creating a potential digital blockade.

21:51Precisely.

21:52Or delaying a military response, maybe in a scenario involving Taiwan.

21:56The potential economic damage is staggering.

21:58Projections hit, what, $10.5 trillion globally by 2025.

22:02Wow.

22:02Okay, and beyond the infrastructure threat, there's the whole influence side too.

22:06Shaping what people see online.

22:08Absolutely.

22:08Billions are being invested there.

22:10Disinformation, social media manipulation.

22:13It's extensive.

22:14How are they getting, well, better at it?

22:16AI is the big game changer here.

22:18We're seeing more AI-generated content.

22:20Like deepfakes.

22:21Deepfakes, yes.

22:22But also AI voice cloning.

22:24Sophisticated AI chatbots.

22:26It makes the fake stuff look and sound much more real, more authentic.

22:30Wasn't there an example in Taiwan recently?

22:32There was.

22:33January 2024 election.

22:35They used AI-generated audio, faking a political endorsement.

22:39First time we've seen a nation state confirmed using AI like that to directly try and sway a foreign election.

22:45Yeah, it's a new frontier.

22:46A dangerous one.

22:46It really is.

22:47It forces defenders into a situation where you almost have to fight AI with AI.

22:52So putting it all together, where does China actually stand now?

22:56Are they the top cyber power or still catching up?

22:58It's nuanced.

22:59The U.S. probably still holds an overall edge in capability breadth and depth.

23:04But China is closing that gap incredibly fast, especially in areas like this infrastructure pre-positioning and their use of AI for influence ops, their integrated approach, the sheer scale.

23:14It's a formidable near-peer challenge, no question.

23:17So this deep dive really shows China's secret digital army isn't just some sci-fi concept.

23:24It's real, sophisticated, integrated.

23:27And evolving very quickly.

23:28It's impacting global stability economies, even, you know, our perception of reality online.

23:34What's next then?

23:34What does the future look like?

23:35I think we're looking at an accelerating AI arms race in cyberspace.

23:40The Internet of Things, all those connected devices becomes a huge, vulnerable attack surface.

23:46More things to hack.

23:47Many more.

23:48And we'll continue this difficult, maybe elusive search for effective international rules for cyber norms.

23:54Constant vigilance.

23:55Constant adaptation.

23:56That's the baseline now.

23:57Which brings it back to you, our listener.

23:59Thinking about these advanced strategies, this shifting landscape.

24:03Yeah.

24:03How might it make us reconsider our own digital habits?

24:06Our priorities for staying secure and resilient.

24:08Something to definitely think about.

China’s Secret Digital Army — The Invisible Force Behind Modern Warfare

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