China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) hopes to have effectively contained “major risks” and enhanced data security in the country’s industrial sector by the end of 2026.
The strategy is being proposed at a time when cyberattacks and industrial espionage are frequent accusations between China and the US.
According to a Reuters story from the previous year, Chinese government agencies and state-owned businesses were stepping up their attempts to replace Western-made software and hardware with homegrown alternatives, in part because of concerns about foreign adversary hacking.
“In response to frequent risk scenarios such as ransomware attacks, vulnerability backdoors, illegal operations by personnel, and uncontrolled remote operation and maintenance, we will strengthen risk self-examination and self-correction, and adopt precise management and protective measures,” according to the plan, published on MIIT’s website.
Protective measures, including emergency drills simulating ransomware attacks, must be applied to over 45,000 companies in China‘s industrial sector by 2026 year-end, covering at least the top 10% in terms of revenue in every Chinese province.
The plan also aims to complete 30,000 data security training sessions and cultivate 5,000 data security “talents” within the same timeframe.
China has in the past three years tightened regulation over how its companies store and transfer user data, citing national security concerns. Regulators fined Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi $1.2 billion in July 2022 over data-security breaches.
The Ministry of State Security warned in December that foreign geographic information software was being used to collect sensitive data in key sectors including its military.
In the same month, MIIT proposed a four-tier classification system to help it respond to data security incidents.
