Cyber attacks during major conferences doubling each year

Beijing should ramp up its cyber security capabilities amid rising threats, political adviser Qi Xiangdong said on Tuesday.

"The number of organized, sophisticated cyber attacks hitting institutions in Beijing during major conferences has been doubling year-on-year in recent years," said Qi, who is also chairman of Chinese internet security company 360 Enterprise Security Group.

He made the proposal at a discussion on technological innovation and high-quality economic development at the annual session of the Beijing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Qi said a significant department affiliated to the city government experienced more than 50,000 cyber threats during the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation from Sept 3 to 4. More than 5,000 data breach incidents were also reported at another institution.

Beijing hosted more than 210,000 conferences in 2017, 81 of which high-profile international meetings, Beijing Daily reported in September.

Universities make up 40 percent of cyber threat targets in Beijing, with those specializing in international affairs and national defense hit hardest by hackers.

"Some institutions still resort to the primitive way of cutting off power or internet connections to avoid violations," Qi said. "Due to a lack of cyber security professionals, it's out of our reach to design and equip each institution with a tailored system and designate a separate team running the system."

Instead, he suggested an aggregation of cyber security resources across the city.

"The education, health and finance authorities should each set up an emergency platform to tackle cyber security risks targeting schools, hospitals and financial businesses," he said.

Qi added that a city-level emergency center should be established to manage and regulate cyber security affairs in the capital.