The History of Chinese Cybersecurity: Current Effects on Chinese Society Economy, and Foreign Relations

Chinese cybersecurity has become an infamous topic in the field of cybersecurity today, causing a great deal of controversy. The controversy stems from whether or not censorship is hindering Chinese economy, society, and relationships with other countries. The White Papers (中国政府白皮书), the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国宪法), and The Internet in China (中国互联网状况) all suggest that there is a free flow of Internet both within and without China that promotes peaceful socioeconomic development which the Chinese government seeks to promote. But is China sacrificing lucrative business prospects to secure their country? From whom is China securing its people, and is filtering the Internet truly the cure to insecurity? International Security Studies (ISS) has examined the issue of what is actually being secured, the nation state or its people. More recent schools of thought have asserted that Human Security, which is also concerned with the welfare of the people of the state, is relevant to China’s current security questions. China is reacting to its recent economic slowdown by reasserting its dominance over news outlets and increasing censorship of the Internet, which is in direct contradiction to its National Defense and Military Strategy policy. The policy dictates informationization and modernization through the use of the Internet and technology, but to control the free-flow of Internet is to limit economic and social development. This paper explores the above documents, other comparable countries’ cybersecurity policies, censorship policies throughout China’s recent history, news reports, International Relations Theory (IRT), and ISS to see if this is so

Fronteras de seguridad en redes privadas virtuales (VPN)

El presente trabajo de grado consiste en la elaboración de un documento basado en la investigación sobre la temática de redes privadas virtuales, terminología usada, nociones de enlaces de red, tipos de VPN y arquitecturas de VPNs, hasta el análisis de seguridades de estas redes, con los clientes más usados y la importancia que debe tener en una organización. Inicialmente se presenta una introducción al mundo de las redes de comunicación, contextualizando al lector sobre las generalidades más importantes del tema, una descripción en detalle de una alternativa segura como lo son las VPN, que le permiten a las personas y organizaciones hacer uso de un medio peligroso de comunicación como lo es internet para conectarse con el mundo exterior de una forma fiable. Posteriormente, se hace una descripción de los protocolos de seguridad en las redes privadas virtuales, amenazas en la red y formas de mitigación, para finalizar con una metodología que le permita a las organizaciones escoger una red privada virtual según unos criterios expuestos

Application of total innovation management to leverage innovation capabilities of chinese small & medium sized enterprises

There is still a wide gap in innovative and technological capabilities between China and industrialized countries. The project goal is to leverage innovative capabilities and the competitiveness of Small & Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) via Total Innovation Management (TIM), and thereby contribute to the social and economic development of Zhejiang and other provinces in China. This report outlines project activities, events, outputs, and outcomes. Total innovation capability (TIC) can be divided into core capability and supplementary capability: core capability is positively related to innovation performance, yet needs appropriate time and resources to be built up. R&D investment can increase stability

Core competitiveness strategic thinking in China's maternal and child healthcare hospitals: an exploratory study

In recent years, China has achieved rapid economic and social development. To keep up with the economic growth, China adopted two-child policy and started to reform the medical system. Against such backdrop, there is a huge increase in the demand for women and children's health services. However, the overall service capacity of the maternal and child care service centers in China cannot satisfy the growing demand. Therefore, it is necessary to update development strategies so as to achieve a sustainable and healthy development. Based on the resource-based view, this thesis studies the core competitiveness of the hospitals. First, we conducted three rounds of Delphi consultation with 32 hospital managers and research experts in public health from eight different institutions to finalize the evaluation index for the core competitiveness specially developed for Chinese maternal and child care service centers. In order to validate the evaluation index, we have proceeded with correlation analysis of core competitiveness with five other maternal and child care service centers of same level in China. An in-depth the case study of Shunde Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital. and through SWOT analysis, we have proposed strategies for improving the core competitiveness of Shunde Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital to adapt to new situations. Last but not least, through analysis of the key influencing factors of the hospital’s development in the past decade, we have proved the importance of improving the core competitiveness so as to adapt to changes of the environment. This study found that VRIO resources and capabilities, dynamic capabilities and unique hospital culture are the three key factors to ensure excellent performances for Shunde Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital. To be more specific, hospitals should adopt specialization strategies, develop a talent team, improve management and service abilities, develop cooperative medical service system, improve abilities to treat critical and difficult diseases and establish a culture that encourages innovation and people-oriented.Nos anos mais recentes, assistiu-se na China, um acelerado desenvolvimento socioeconómico. A par disso, assistiu-se à introdução da política de “dois filhos” bem como de outras medidas públicas reformativas do sistema de saúde que estão a ser implementadas com grande sucesso. Porém, a capacidade total das maternidades e hospitais pediátricos está, no entanto, longe de ser capaz de satisfazer toda a procura nesta nova era. Consequentemente, é necessário repensar as estratégias de desenvolvimento de modo a atingir um desenvolvimento sustentado da saúde. Com base na teoria de recursos, a presente tese promoveu uma análise sobre as competências nucleares dos hospitais. Em primeiro lugar, aplicou-se o método Delphi com três fases de consulta onde intervieram 32 gestores hospitalares e peritos em saúde pública de oito diferentes instituições para a construção de um índice de avaliação de competências nucleares de centros de maternidade e de pediatria. Para validação do índice de avaliação realizaram-se análises de correlação de competências nucleares com outros cinco centros de maternidade do mesmo nível que o "Shunde Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital". Elaborou-se um estudo de caso aprofundado do Shunde Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital e, com base neste e na aplicação da análise SWOT foram formuladas estratégias para a melhoria das capacidades organizacionais nucleares do hospital. Por outro lado, a análise de fatores essenciais de desenvolvimento do hospital nos últimos 10 anos, este estudo demonstrou, ainda, a importância da relevação das capacidades organizacionais nucleares na adaptação do hospital às variações da envolvente global. O presente estudo permitiu concluir que os recursos e capacidades organizacionais VRIO, o domínio das capacidades dinâmicas e a cultura específica do hospital são os três fatores chave de estratégia para que os hospitais pediátricos e de maternidade possam ter um desempenho superior. As medidas mais importantes no quadro das capacidades organizacionais nucleares a reter são a estratégia de especialização, a construção do um sistema de retenção de talentos, melhoria de competências de gestão, a construção de um sistema médico integrado e o estabelecimento de uma cultura de inovação e cuidado com as mães e progénitos

Re-Platformed Planet? The Rise and Spread of Chinese Technology Platform Companies

This thesis seeks to answer the question—what are the implications if Chinese platform technology companies expand around the world? To answer this question the research assesses whether platforms have powers of influence; if Chinese platforms have such powers; if they do, are they using such powers on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) outside of China; and what might accelerate or inhibit their global expansion. The research expands on and connects current scholarship in a number of fields, among them: geoeconomics, business, technology & media, influence operations, and political economy. Evidence from a wide range of scholarship, Chinese policy documents, media coverage, and interviews provides answers to these questions. Two frameworks were developed to help evaluate platform influence powers and actors. Findings: Platforms are designed as “architectures of influence,” enabling a core set of actors to exert influence through them. Chinese platforms, have arguably enhanced influence capabilities because of their partnership in building and implementing China’s domestic surveillance and control infrastructure. Where they are expanding globally, there is evidence Chinese platforms are exerting influence on behalf of the CCP—and they are expanding rapidly, particularly in emerging markets. Nevertheless, they have not as yet superseded Western platforms’ presence. However, a number of factors could accelerate Chinese platform proliferation—innovation, loss of confidence in Western models, technology decoupling, internet standards and governance, and China’s technology stack. Other factors could inhibit their expansion—the current regulatory crackdown in China, impressions of China’s domestic and foreign policy actions, weaknesses in China’s soft power, and principal/agent effects. Based on the research and current trends, it is likely that Chinese platforms will continue to expand and act even more effectively on behalf of the CCP. The implications of this could be significant at the country level and for the global order. The thesis concludes with policy recommendations and suggested areas of further research

Maturing International Cooperation to Address the Cyberspace Attack Attribution Problem

One of the most significant challenges to deterring attacks in cyberspace is the difficulty of identifying and attributing attacks to specific state or non-state actors. The lack of technical detection capability moves the problem into the legal realm; however, the lack of domestic and international cyberspace legislation makes the problem one of international cooperation. Past assessments have led to collective paralysis pending improved technical and legal advancements. This paper demonstrates, however, that any plausible path to meaningful defense in cyberspace must include a significant element of international cooperation and regime formation. The analytical approach diverges from past utilitarian-based assessments to understand the emerging regime, or implicit and explicit principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures, around which actor expectations are beginning to converge in the area of cyberspace attack attribution. The analysis applies a social-practice perspective of regime formation to identify meaningful normative and political recommendations. Various hypotheses of regime formation further tailor the recommendations to the current maturity level of international cooperation in this issue area. Examining international cooperation in cyberspace and methods for maturing international cooperation to establish attribution in other domains inform political mitigations to the problem of cyberspace attack attribution. Potential solutions are analyzed with respect to four recent cyberspace attacks to illustrate how improved international cooperation might address the problem. Finally, a counterfactual analysis, or thought experiment, of how these recommendations might have been applied in the case of rampant Chinese cyber espionage inform specific current and future opportunities for implementation. Although timing is difficult to predict, the growing frequency and scope of cyber attacks indicate the window of opportunity to address the problem before some form of cataclysmic event is closing

Consumer data protection in Brazil, China and Germany

The rapid development of new information and communication technologies has changed people’s everyday life and consumption patterns significantly. The worldwide spread of those technologies provides many innovations for consumers, but it can also bear risks, such as the indiscriminate collection, storage and cross-border flow of personal data, illegal spying on Internet activities, dissemination of personal information, and abuse of user passwords. The study deals with the current state of consumer data protection law in Brazil, China and Germany from a comparative perspective. It covers the main legal issues of consumer privacy and data protection in these countries and seeks to explain current issues and case law concerning consumer data protection from a practical perspective

Crowdsourcing Global Culture: Visual Representation in the Age of Information

This doctoral dissertation extends existing frameworks of visual content analysis by coupling them with crowdsourcing technologies for international data collection and an iterative, interpretative visual analysis. In the age of information, imagery continues to be consumed and circulated at exponential rates, influencing and changing global flows of information that parallels Internet communication technology as it penetrates and gains ubiquity in new regions. To investigate the visual, media, and cultural phenomena that lie within these globalized pictorial exchanges, a flexible, visually-based inquiry is essential. This qualitative, visual-ethnographic survey was conducted over the Internet and aims to help inform visually-based literacy and media studies and further image-based research methodologies. The researcher collected over 2000 drawings from 61 countries diverse in geography and culture. The researcher revealed fresh insights into the visual-textual relationship, identity, and representation in a globalized context, specifically looking at emergent tensions between local and global ways of interpretation and meaning construction online. The researcher also considers the effects of a technologically mediated visual culture and its potential to influence or change deeply ingrained ideas once specific to geography and culture into new global trends and evolving material practices. The analysis is centred on a selection of drawings from 106 Asian participants who drew intercultural representations of the words meal, marriage, and home. The most striking discoveries indicate varying degrees of homogeneity and hybridity among the visual cultural representations received and reveals connections among language, the Internet, advertising, and identity. The findings break with more traditional views of globalization occurring in a direct West-East flow and highlight regional powers that can serve as cultural hubs of attention. These hubs act as filters, possibly creating and hybridizing new commercial and cultural trends and positioning themselves as beacons of modernity with considerable visual cultural influence. The researcher also makes suggestions for future studies using an extended multimedia visual methodology as well as the potential inherent in emerging technologies for exploring phenomena in artistic, educative, and academic contexts