Russia's attack on a Chinese bank
The cyberattack by Russian agents or their proxies on a Chinese bank in the U.S. is more serious than it may appear on the surface. The Russian group LockBit, based in Netherlands but with Russian employees, conducted a ransomware attack on the Chinese bank Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in the U.S. on Wednesday, disrupting settlement of trades in U.S. Treasuries.
Apart from the damage it does to ICBC’s U.S. operations, the attack also strikes at a key aspect of Xi Jinping’s character—his global reputation. Like many Chinese leaders, but more so, Xi views his reputation among other nations as an important feature of China’s rise. The appearance of political, economic and financial control goes hand in hand with Xi’s sense of national power. Thus, the apparent sloppiness of ICBC’s security controls, requiring the communication of settlement details by USB drive, is a substantial failure in the highly visible U.S. securities markets, a failure that Xi cannot but see as landing on him.
Now read on...
Register to sample a report