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China technology
TechPolicy

China drafts three-year plan to boost its cybersecurity industry amid increasing concerns for data safety

  • MIIT’s strategy to develop the cybersecurity industry estimates the sector may be worth more than US$38.6 billion by 2023
  • Cyber threats have risen during last year but China is also boosting cybersecurity for national security reasons, experts say

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As cyberthreats rise across the world, China wants to build a US$38.6 billion cybersecurity industry by 2023 while also guarding its national security. Photo: Shutterstock
Masha Borak
China is working on a plan to boost its cybersecurity industry as the country grows more concerned about the safety of its data in response to increasing global tension and rising calls for better individual protections.
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The country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released the draft of its most detailed strategy yet for the development of China’s cybersecurity industry on Monday for public comment, mandating that key industries such as telecommunications devote 10 per cent of their IT upgrade budget to cybersecurity by 2023.

“China has been building – almost from scratch – legal mechanisms in the cybersecurity space since 2017 and is now in the late phase of their inception,” said Ivan Platonov, an analyst at EqualOcean. “With the Data Security Law becoming effective in September, it‘s crucial to develop a broad strategy that will nudge the country’s enterprises to increase their spending on data security.”

By supporting the development of, and boosting demand for, products and technology like data security monitoring and AI threat detection, the ministry expects the sector to be worth more than 250 billion yuan (US$38.6 billion/HK$299.73 billion) by 2023.

Cybersecurity threats have made headlines around the world as the Covid-19 pandemic forced everyone online, allowing hackers to leverage the technology supply chain as a point of entry to conduct attacks like those on Kaseya, Colonial Pipeline, SolarWinds and FireEye, according to Kenn Yee, a policy analyst at Access Partnership.
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“Regulators are scrambling to protect their critical assets by raising cybersecurity protections as a whole throughout their digital ecosystem. China’s three-year cybersecurity plan is such an effort,” said Yee.

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