A report from cybersecurity firm Recorded Future has revealed connections between the Beijing Institute of Electronics Technology and Application (BIETA) and China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), the nation's main civilian intelligence agency.
According to the firm, BIETA was likely founded in 1983, coinciding with the MSS's own establishment, and it supports MSS operations alongside its subsidiary, Beijing Sanxin Times Technology Co (CIII).
Believed to be MSS-led and headquartered within the ministry's compound, BIETA is assessed to research, develop, and sell technology that aids the country's intelligence, counterintelligence, and military efforts, the report indicates.
The firm states, "Their activities include researching methods of steganography that can likely support covert communications (COVCOM) and malware deployment; developing and selling forensic investigation and counterintelligence equipment; and acquiring foreign technologies for steganography, network penetration testing, and military communications and planning."
While not engaged in illicit activities themselves, BIETA and CIII are almost certainly front organizations for the MSS, which is involved in political and domestic cybersecurity, strategic, economic, and technological intelligence, and counterintelligence, while also creating tools for intelligence officers.
BIETA contains at least four research laboratories focusing on communication, multimedia information security, electromagnetic technology, and hybrid integrated circuits, and it also operates a quality testing center for integrated circuits, networking, multimedia, and product integration.
The institute's research extends to cryptography, forensics technology, networking, steganography, and technology miniaturization, in addition to communication, information processing, information security, computer vulnerability, and signal technologies.
Recorded Future identifies at least four BIETA personnel—Wu Shizhong, He Dequan, You Xingang, and Zhou Linna—as having links to the MSS, with three of them very likely being MSS staff members.
The cybersecurity firm also highlighted a specific focus on steganography, the technique of concealing information within ordinary files. Both BIETA and CIII research this technology, most likely to support both defensive and offensive MSS activities.
"In addition to other support, BIETA and its subsidiary, CIII, almost certainly facilitate the MSS’s and state security system’s missions by developing steganographic capabilities and selling security equipment," Recorded Future notes.
CIII's website advertises technology for discovering steganography in various file types, alongside foreign software it likely resells, and Chinese APT groups have been seen using steganography to deploy malware.
The security and forensic products offered by CIII include services for counterintelligence investigations, preventing data collection, signal jamming, and blocking electronic devices from specific areas. A fingerprint-secured USB drive certified in 2006 is also likely a product of CIII or BIETA.
Recorded Future also reports that the MSS gains from BIETA and CIII's international collaborations with expert communities and academics, their attendance at global conferences, and their access to foreign technology, all of which present technology transfer risks.
"How often BIETA and CIII conduct business outside of China or collaborate with foreign experts is unknown. However, foreign export control authorities concerned about the Chinese intelligence community and military’s access to COVCOM technologies like steganography, network simulation, penetration testing, and 3D and communications modeling technologies should review these entities," Recorded Future advises.