Continuing research on China’s military cyber force, restructured at the start of 2016 and now called the Strategic Support Force Network Systems Department, indicates that operational security around this unit remains tight. Official references to this entity remain rare. Chinese citizens themselves are in the dark, often speculating online about what elements of the former PLA Third and Fourth Departments have been incorporated into the new structure.The research did show that a new cover designator for the Network Systems Department is in use: PLA 32069 Unit. This designator has shown up in several references, including procurement data tied to the address for the Network Systems Department compound in Beijing.
Many questions remain about whether this entity has a cyber attack mission, in addition to a cyber collection. What relationship it has to know cyber actors in the PLA’s Technical Reconnaissance Bureaus remains unclear.
Wapack Labs has cataloged and reported on numerous Chinese cyber threats in the past. An archive of related reporting can be found in the Red Sky Alliance portal.
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