China tightens control over cybersecurity in data crackdown

A file photo of people walking past an electronic display showing recent cyberattacks in China. Tech experts in China who find a weakness in computer security would be required to tell the government instead of publicising it under rules announced Tuesday, July 13, 2021, as part of the ruling Communist Party’s sweeping effort to tighten control over information. — AP

BEIJING: Tech experts in China who find a weakness in computer security would be required to tell the government and couldn’t sell that knowledge under rules further tightening the Communist Party’s control over information.

The rules would ban private sector experts who find “zero day”, or previously unknown security weaknesses, and sell the information to police, spy agencies or companies. Such vulnerabilities have been a feature of major hacking attacks including one this month blamed on a Russian-linked group that infected thousands of companies in at least 17 countries.