The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published a report outlining and analyzing major threats to online security as of second quarter 2018. In light of the contents, the ministry in cooperation with telecommunications companies, network security professionals, internet companies and other related experts, has begun work to find the most effective means of monitoring and neutralizing these threats.

In the second quarter of this year, a total of approximately 18.4 million threats to online security were detected. Among them, just over 16.8 million threatened telecoms, 30,000 threatened Internet security organizations, and around 1.5 million hit internet companies, domain name groups and those specializing in online security. These threats bore three standard hallmarks, the third of which interests us the most:

Users emails were (or attempted to be) hacked, seriously compromising their personal data Industrial platforms and smart devices as the chief target of online attacks Illegal “mining” which threatens the very foundation of stability on which Internet security is built

Large and illegal operations of cryptocurrency mining are a huge part of what damages the image and credibility of the industry. Such operations undermine the many efforts of legitimate businesses and fintech pioneers to create an effective, decentralized platform that makes use of some of the best new technologies out there, like blockchain.

Internet security guarantees are an important part of the China-Africa summit in Beijing, and the ministry takes the work to build such systems and guarantees as a task of paramount importance. They will be working to quickly publish guidelines and policy measures designed to curb these threats and produce what they call a more stable and productive online environment. We sincerely hope that the work doesn’t step on too many toes and stifle the work of fintech and other online innovators.