China Focus: New technologies enhance China cybersecurity

HEFEI -- When a confidential document is leaked by unauthorized photo-taking or photocopying, the simple step of taking a photo of the document will offer information about when and how it was leaked.

This is the latest anti-leak technology developed by High Dimensional Data, a tech company based in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei. It was showcased at the ongoing cybersecurity-themed expo being held in Hefei, an event forming part of the 2022 China Cybersecurity Week.

The key to the technology lies in a traceable security system that adds an invisible watermark to each confidential document, said Yao Xuetao, a product manager at High Dimensional Data.

From Quantum encryption technology, big data anti-fraud systems, to methods of identifying AI-enabled forgeries, various cutting-edge technologies are showcased at the expo, demonstrating China's unremitting efforts to strengthen cybersecurity.

A report released by the China Internet Network Information Center in August showed that 63.2 percent of China's internet users said in June that they had not encountered cybersecurity problems in the past six months, up 1.3 percentage points from December 2021.

"As far as cybersecurity is concerned, a perfect score is the only acceptable outcome," said Zhu Jianyu, deputy chief of the cybersecurity brigade of the Hefei Public Security Bureau, adding that raising public awareness of all kinds of online fraud is an important way to enhance cybersecurity.

Zhu said his brigade had made various efforts, through both online channels and offline events, to publicize useful tips about cybersecurity and address public concerns in this regard.

Data from the Ministry of Public Security showed that since April 2021, the national anti-fraud center had intercepted 2.81 billion fraud-related phone calls and blocked 4 million fraud-related domain names and websites. It has prevented 109 million people from being swindled and stopped 551.8 billion yuan (about $79.2 billion) from being lost due to fraud.

"It needs to be stressed that there is no such thing as a free lunch," Zhu said. "Don't ever answer suspicious phone calls or browse suspicious websites, and protect your smartphones with anti-fraud apps."

In recent years, China has also accelerated the building of legal protection in cybersecurity, by issuing a national strategy on cyberspace security and promulgating a series of laws and regulations, including the data security law and the personal information protection law.

"Through the combination of law and technology, China is making steady strides in protecting privacy and data security," said Qian Lei, vice chairman of Cyber Security Association of China.