Rare earths producer Lynas attacked by China-linked bots
August 27, 2022 — 2.16pm (Extract- WA Today)
Fake social media accounts linked to the Chinese Communist Party are posting daily attacks on Lynas Rare Earths, according to the Australian company.
Cyber-protection experts say the campaign is targeting US and Australian collaboration on critical mineral supply chains. First made public in June, the attacks are focusing on Lynas’ environmental record in Malaysia in an attempt to turn public opinion against a new plant it’s building in Texas with US government funding.
“We see bot posts on various social media every day, and we report them every day, and it’s quite frustrating,” Lynas Chief Executive Officer Amanda Lacaze said in an interview on Friday. “It’s very easy to see the bot posts and the messages are exactly the same.”
China-connected propagandists have long attempted to leverage social media to influence public opinion on issues ranging from the origin of the coronavirus to the US presidential election, according to cybersecurity firms including Mandiant and Graphika.
The Cyberspace Administration of China didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The bot campaign against Lynas was first identified by Mandiant, which dubbed it “Dragonbridge” and said it was emanating from a “pro-People’s Republic of China (PRC) network.” Mandiant said the campaign was also targeting a Canadian company, Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp.
Albert Zhang, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank, separately monitored the group and concluded it was a “Chinese Communist Party information operation”. Both Mandiant and Zhang said the attacks were likely to be an attempt to derail President Joe Biden’s efforts to build a US critical minerals industry
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https://www.watoday.com.au/world/as...ked-by-china-linked-bots-20220827-p5bd7l.html
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