CNN reports that the National Supercomputing Center (NSCC) in Tianjin, which is operated by the state, is thought to have been compromised by a group known as FlamingChina, who shared a sample of the pilfered data on Telegram on February 6. This information has not been independently corroborated by journalists or acknowledged by the Chinese authorities, yet cybersecurity specialists who have examined the samples—which feature documents labeled Secret and missile designs—indicate they seem authentic.
FlamingChina asserts that the data encompasses over 10 petabytes (equivalent to 10,000 TB) of “research spanning various domains including aerospace engineering, military studies, bioinformatics, fusion simulation, and more” from entities such as the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, and the National University of Defense Technology. Specialists note that the hacker is pricing portions of the data at thousands of dollars and full access at hundreds of thousands, all to be transacted in cryptocurrency.
Considering the nature of the information involved, the stolen data is likely to attract the attention of China’s rivals. As cybersecurity expert Marc Hofer highlighted, only government intelligence agencies are likely equipped with the resources necessary to sift through such a high volume of information to uncover valuable secrets. Conversely, cybersecurity consultant Dakota Cary raised doubts about the data’s worth, suggesting that interested governments might already possess the intelligence in question.