China is using big data science and technology to harness more than 10,000 Indian individuals through “hybrid warfare,” a strategy that shifts the focus from political, military and economic aspects to one that focuses on technology. . The targets, whose fingerprints are being observed, range from people from the Indian government, opposition parties, media to art, sports and culture.
The agency that monitors the individual or organization in real time through its global database of foreign targets is a Shenzhen-based technology company that calls itself a pioneer in the use of big data for “hybrid warfare” and ” great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. “
An investigation of The Indian Express has revealed how the agency removes information from the web and social media platforms, tracks research papers, articles, patents and recruitment positions. It traces its links with the Chinese government and the Communist Party of China.
Zhenhua Data Information Technology Co. Limited is monitoring Indian individuals from President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Acting President of Congress Sonia Gandhi and their families. He also watches over Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee, Ashok Gehlot, Amarinder Singh, Uddhav Thackeray, Naveen Patnaik and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Cabinet ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani and Piyush Goyal, as well as Chief of Defense Staff Bipin Singh Rawat, along with 15 former heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force, are being monitored. Also on the list are the Chief Justice of India Sharad Bobde, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Lokpal Justice PC Ghose, and Controller and Auditor General GC Murmu.
In addition to this, the agency is also monitoring start-up tech entrepreneurs including Nipun Mehra, founder of Bharat Pe (an Indian payment app), Ajay Trehan of AuthBridge, an authentication technology company, and even leading industrialists. Ratan Tata and Gautam Adani.
The list includes bureaucrats in key positions, as well as judges, scientists, academics, journalists, actors, athletes, religious figures, and activists. Hundreds of accused of financial crimes, corruption, terrorism and smuggling of narcotics, gold, weapons or wildlife, are also being observed according to the report in THAT IS TO SAY.
Development becomes important in the context of a border dispute along the Line of Royal Control (LAC). The company has claimed that it works with Chinese intelligence, military and security agencies. Faced with these outbreaks throughout LAC, India has blocked, since June, more than 100 Chinese applications to engage in activities “detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, state security and public order.” However, Zhenhua appears unaffected by these decisions, according to the report.
The Indian Express for more than two months used big data tools, investigated the metadata of Zhenhua’s operations, and extracted Indian names from the huge pile of log files that make up what the company called the Overseas Key Information Database (OKIDB). OKIDB also builds family trees through networking.
A member of the company’s staff refused to speak to the correspondent because the matter involved trade secrets. But a source at the Chinese embassy in Delhi told IE: “China has not asked and will not ask companies or individuals to collect or provide data, information and intelligence stored in the territories of other countries for the Chinese government by installing ‘back doors’ or violating local laws.. “
There were no clarifications as to whether the Chinese government and the military were clients of Zhenhua Data, as the company claims. There was no explanation why the Chinese government would use the OKIDB data, if it did.
“What I would like to point out is that the Chinese government has been asking Chinese companies to strictly comply with local laws and regulations when doing business abroad; this position is not going to change ”, said the source of the Embassy.
The publication’s investigation has shown that OKIDB tracks the relatives of, among others, Prime Minister Modi, President Kovind, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Smriti Irani, Harsimrat Kaur and Akhilesh Yadav.
Those also on Zhenhua’s list of people being monitored are former Chief Ministers Raman Singh, Ashok Chavan, Siddaramaiah; political party leaders, the late M Karunanidhi of DMK, the late Kanshi Ram of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Lalu Prasad Yadav of RJD. The database has a strategic collection of more than 250 Indian bureaucrats and diplomats, including Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla; Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog; up to 23 former and current chief clerks and more than a dozen former and current state police chiefs.
Those of the media mentioned on the list include N Ravi, who last week was named president of The Hindu Group; Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary; India Today Group Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai; former media adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office Sanjaya Baru; and The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Raj Kamal Jha.
Key names in sports, culture and religion are also on the list. Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, film director Shyam Benegal, classical dancer Sonal Mansingh, former Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh, various bishops and archbishops of churches, the self-styled god-woman Radhe Maa (Sukhwinder Kaur); Bibi Jagir Kaur, the first woman to be elected the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee for the second time, and Hardev Singh of the Nirankari Mission, are among those being monitored.
.
