China’s attack on Aussie miner
A Chinese-linked campaign that is spreading disinformation to undermine the resources sector in the West has targeted a leading Australian mineral company.
A Chinese-linked campaign that is spreading disinformation to undermine the resources sector in the West has targeted a leading Australian mineral company and is attempting to drum up protest activity to prevent its expansion into the US and Malaysia.
A report by US cybersecurity firm Mandiant reveals the campaign, known as Dragonbridge, has been operating since 2019 and consists of thousands of inauthentic accounts on social media platforms and websites that spread messages promoting the interests of the People’s Republic of China.
Mandiant says it has found a “subset” of the operations that targets Australian mining company Lynas Rare Earths, with content criticising its alleged environmental record and calling for protests against its planned construction of a processing facility in Texas.
It contacted other companies, including Appia and USA Rare Earth, in North America about the Dragonbridge campaign.
The Australian government and national security agencies over the past two years have issued warnings about “sophisticated cyber-attacks” targeting critical infrastructure in Australia.
Former prime minister Scott Morrison in 2020 said governments and businesses were being targeted by “a state-based actor with significant capabilities”.
“This act is targeting Australian organisations across a range of sectors including all levels of government, industry, political organisations, education, health, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure,” he said.
Mr Morrison said he had raised the attacks with Five Eyes intelligence partners the US, UK, New Zealand and Canada.
The new Albanese government has maintained the firm stance on China, raising alarm over the changing nature of Beijing under Xi Jinping.
The Mandiant report says it is clear the disinformation campaigns are targeting “an industry of strategic significance to the PRC”, and particularly companies that challenge Beijing’s market dominance.
Lynas has become a critical partner to the US, after China threatened a rare earth embargo to the US in 2019. In response, the US Department of Defence signed an agreement with Lynas, the world’s largest rare earths mining and processing company outside of China, to construct the Texas processing facility.
The Mandiant report includes examples of inauthentic social media accounts, some posing as Texas residents, posting concerns over environmental and health issues surrounding the construction of the plant.
Mandiant says most accounts use English for their posts, but some are written in Chinese.
“As with other Dragonbridge accounts we have previously identified, the newly identified accounts in this activity set have shown similar indicators of inauthenticity and co-ordination,” the report states.
“For example, accounts use profile photos appropriated from various online sources, including stock photography, animals, and cartoons, suggesting they sought to obfuscate their identities. Most of the Twitter accounts were created in clusters between March and June 2022, suggesting possible batch creation of the accounts, a tactic we have previously observed with this campaign.”
Mandiant warns other global competitors to Chinese firms could be targeted by such disinformation campaigns in the future.
In a statement, Lynas said the campaign was the first time it had been targeted by the spreading of disinformation to serve the political agenda of China.
“The report shows evidence of direct and mutual engagement between the pro-China Dragonbridge social media accounts and the Malaysian anti-Lynas activists,” the statement read.