I am summarising a piece that was published on the Ministry of State Security’s WeChat account. This was republished by Xinhua today. The piece basically talks about the need to be cautious with open-source information. The warning is that open-source information can become a source of leaking of secret and sensitive information.
Before I get to the article, I think this is the opportune moment to announce that the next edition of my 6-week online course Watching China is scheduled for early February 2025. The course is designed to equip those aspiring to study and analyse China’s domestic and foreign policies with the skills that are essential to engage in such a task.
Over a period of six weeks, Watching China will provide an introduction to the philosophy, structures and processes of the Leninist Party-state system, discuss the role of ideology and familiarise students with the language of Communist Party discourse. Students will also be introduced to key analytical frameworks and China’s information ecosystem allowing them to undertake effective open source research.
Further details will be provided in the days ahead. If you would like to be personally notified when applications open, please can drop me a line through the link below or by replying to this email.
Back to the MSS’ article.
The article says that in the era of big data and cyberspace, “some sensitive information is being publicly disseminated through the Internet without undergoing declassification processing or risk assessment, thereby becoming an important source of open source intelligence for foreign espionage and intelligence agencies, posing a threat to our national security.”
It adds:
“Open-source information generally refers to legally accessible information resources, including but not limited to social media posts, online forum discussions, blog articles, news reports, satellite images, etc. These information sources are extensive, have low acquisition costs, and often contain a wealth of valuable data and intelligence, which may become a critical source of network-based intelligence theft for foreign espionage and intelligence agencies.
Be vigilant when it comes to leaks in procurement bidding. Classified procurement refers to procurement activities that require confidentiality measures during the process to ensure the security of state secrets, such as classified construction projects or digitization of classified archives. In practice, due to inadequate management or weak confidentiality awareness among personnel, procurement content or purposes may be improperly disclosed, or classified technical parameters may be marked in public bidding documents on occasion, threatening the security of state secrets.
Be vigilant of leaks during information disclosure. According to regulations, government agencies must, as per the law, conduct confidentiality reviews of information proposed for public disclosure before making it public. However, it has been found in practice that some agencies fail to strictly follow confidentiality review regulations when publishing information, uploading classified documents to public websites, thereby leading to incidents of information leaks.
Be vigilant of leaks on social media. In today’s society, self-media is flourishing, and videos casually filmed or comments posted by netizens can attract widespread attention. Some outdoor enthusiasts share images with classified sensitive forbidden areas as backgrounds on social media to attract attention. Such behaviour not only severely disrupts the management order of classified and sensitive areas but may also be exploited by foreign espionage and intelligence agencies, posing a threat to our national security.
“The openness and easy accessibility of open-source information makes sensitive information easily exploitable by foreign espionage and intelligence agencies. Foreign espionage and intelligence agencies can gather fragmented, blurred data together, and through big data correlation analysis, can implement precise, continuous, and stable information tracking on targets, obtaining valuable intelligence. This poses great challenges when it comes to maintaining confidentiality, necessitating the adoption of stricter and more effective measures to prevent information leaks.
Improve systems and clarify responsibilities. Relevant units should establish and improve confidentiality responsibility systems and management protocols, clearly defining the confidentiality duties and authorities of leaders and staff at all levels. Strengthen the management and supervision of personnel involved in dealing with classified information to ensure strict compliance with confidentiality regulations and systems.
Strengthen control and conduct strict reviews. Relevant units should strengthen information disclosure control at the source, strictly implement confidentiality review systems, absolutely prohibit the disclosure of classified information, and implement categorised and graded protection for non-classified but sensitive information.Network platforms should strictly fulfil main body responsibilities, strengthen full-process management of information circulation, improve content review mechanisms, and ensure compliance in editing and compilation, conduct declassification before publication, and review materials before re-sharing.
Raise awareness and be cautious in speech and action. Citizens in general should enhance risk prevention awareness, be vigilant against behaviours that endanger national security, maintain clear-headedness and caution in network-related behaviours, and prevent themselves from becoming sources of open-source intelligence for foreign espionage and intelligence agencies.
The piece ends with a call to action, i.e., to report suspicious activities through the 12339 hotline, through www.12339.gov.cn, the WeChat public account of the Ministry of State Security or directly to the local national security authorities.
