PRC Cyber Strategy Explained
A review of a recent Booz Allen Report on China's cyber plans
Booz Allen have recently released a report (email reg required) taking a look at the People’s Republic of China and their strategic use of cyber as part of their overall foreign policy goals.
The report highlights the strategic, long-term and integrated use of cyber and information operations across a variety of targets with varying levels of success.
Strategic Objectives
The PRC’s cyber strategy is global, persistent, and state-directed, using cyber power as an instrument of geopolitical coercion. Its main goals are to:
Constrain U.S. strategic options and freedom of action.
Erode alliance cohesion among the U.S., Europe, and the Indo-Pacific.
Embed influence and leverage in developing nations.
Pre-position access to critical infrastructure for crisis or conflict advantage.
Core Operating Logic
Beijing fuses state policy, technical innovation, and systemic exploitation into a cohesive architecture of cyber power. Rather than one-off hacks, PRC campaigns are deliberate, cumulative efforts to:
Shape global political and security environments.
Undermine adversaries’ decision-making ecosystems.
Precondition outcomes in future crises or conflicts.
Four Force Multipliers
The PRC’s operational edge is built around four reinforcing “force multipliers”:
Trusted Relationship Exploitation – Compromising software vendors, supply chains, and service providers to scale access and persistence while bypassing traditional defenses.
Network Edge Device Exploitation – Systematic targeting of routers, VPNs, and firewalls to gain stealthy, long-term access to networks worldwide.
AI Acceleration – Using AI for faster reconnaissance, targeting, translation, and influence operations; moving toward fully AI-enabled cyber operations.
Attribution Contestation – Blurring responsibility through criminal proxies, misinformation, and counter-narratives to preserve escalation control and deniability.
Operational Arenas
The PRC applies these methods across three global arenas:
East Asia: Undermining U.S. agility around Taiwan, Japan, and the South China Sea by embedding access and using influence operations to shape domestic sentiment.
U.S. Alliance System: Targeting political cohesion in the Five Eyes and Europe, monitoring leadership transitions, and influencing narratives that fracture unity.
Developing World: Building digital dependency via PRC technology, exploiting infrastructure for espionage and leverage, and influencing governance through cyber and information operations.
Emerging Trends (2025–2030 Forecast)
Scaling of trusted-access abuse through contractors and vendor ecosystems.
Expansion to nontraditional edge devices (satellite terminals, cellular gateways).
AI becoming a core operational enabler, not just a support tool.
Shift from denial to structured denial operations — organized, fast-response attribution counterclaims.
Cyber prepositioning for crisis leverage in East Asia and critical minerals supply chains.
Embedded influence and coercion in developing countries aligned with Belt and Road interests.
Strategic Effect
Beijing seeks to reshape global competition by:
Eroding U.S. and allied decision-making agility.
Maintaining plausible deniability below conflict thresholds.
Establishing persistent strategic leverage through digital entrenchment.
Counter-Strategy (U.S. Recommendations)
The report calls for the U.S. and allies to:
Close the “trusted back door” (vendor access control).
Fortify edge infrastructure (firewalls, VPNs, OT systems).
Reform procurement to factor in adversarial control risks.
Disrupt PRC botnets and infrastructure-as-a-service ecosystems.
Out-automate and undermine PRC AI operations.
Expose and contest attribution at speed.
Forward-posture with allies and secure the developing world’s digital terrain.
In short:
The PRC’s cyber strategy is not just about hacking—it’s systematic digital statecraft designed to erode U.S. initiative, exploit global interdependencies, and secure long-term positional advantage through scale, stealth, speed, and deniability.