A recent memorandum from the United States national security revealed by the Financial Times disclosed that the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (referred to as Alibaba below) is providing technical support to the Chinese military for “actions” against the United States, as per declassified “top-secret” intelligence.
On Friday, November 14th, the Financial Times reported that the memorandum issued on November 1st outlined how Alibaba supports the Chinese military in ways that pose a threat to US security.
The report stated that these accusations reflect increasing American concerns over China’s cloud services, artificial intelligence, and Beijing’s ability to access and utilize sensitive US data. The allegations against Alibaba are the latest worries raised by US officials and lawmakers regarding Chinese tech companies linked to the Chinese military.
According to the White House memorandum, Alibaba has provided the Chinese government and military with access to customer data, including IP addresses, WiFi information, payment records, and various artificial intelligence-related services. The memorandum stated that Alibaba employees had shared information on discovered “zero-day vulnerabilities” with the Chinese military. Zero-day vulnerabilities refer to previously unknown or unpatched software flaws.
Alibaba has denied these accusations but has refused to comment on its ties to the Chinese military.
Military forces worldwide are increasingly relying on corporations to meet various technological needs, especially as contemporary weapon systems require computer network connections and are increasingly dependent on cloud computing services.
The memorandum did not specify the specific US targets the Chinese military is aiming at. However, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated this year that Beijing has the capability to invade US infrastructure in the event of conflicts with the United States.
In a threat assessment report in March, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated that China’s cyber activities, including unprecedented and continuous incursions into US telecommunications networks under the “Salt Typhoon” operation, demonstrate the “breadth and depth” of its network capabilities are constantly increasing.
When asked about the memorandum, a US official stated that the government “takes these threats very seriously and is working tirelessly to mitigate the ongoing and potential risks and impacts of network intrusions from untrusted suppliers.”
Both the White House and the Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment on the Financial Times report.
The Financial Times reported that when asked about the memorandum, the Chinese Embassy in Washington accused the United States of “completely distorting facts” and stated that Beijing is improving laws and regulations to protect individual privacy and data in the field of artificial intelligence.
Alibaba’s Hong Kong stock fell nearly 4% on the same day.
In May, lawmakers urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission to delist 25 Chinese companies, including Alibaba, citing their affiliations with the Chinese military. They referred to a Chinese government project called “Military-Civil Fusion,” which requires Chinese companies to share technology with the military.
US tech company Anthropic warned on Thursday, November 13th, that Chinese hackers “hijacked” its AI robot to conduct large-scale espionage activities, attacking around 30 global organizations, with four successful intrusions. This marks the first recorded instance of a foreign government utilizing AI for automated network attacks, with the robot instructed to carry out 80%-90% of the attacks automatically.