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Chinese language Menace Actor Targets Uncommon Earth Mining Firms in North America, Australia

By Ionut Arghire on June 28, 2022

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Mandiant’s safety researchers have been monitoring affect campaigns {that a} Chinese language risk actor named Dragonbridge has been conducting in opposition to uncommon earth mining firms in Australia, Canada, and america.

Lively since at the very least 2019, Dragonbridge has been utilizing a community of hundreds of inauthentic accounts on social platforms, web sites, and boards to advertise narratives in help of China’s political pursuits.

Extra just lately, the risk actor has began a social media marketing campaign centered on uncommon earth mining firms, together with Lynas Uncommon Earths Ltd (Australia), Appia Uncommon Earths & Uranium Corp (Canada), and USA Uncommon Earth.

As Mandiant notes, the focused business is of strategic significance to China, with the three sufferer firms difficult the nation’s provide chain dominance within the business. Uncommon earth metals characterize a essential element of client and army merchandise, together with plane engines and missile steering programs.

The focusing on of those firms falls consistent with latest occasions that clearly impacted China: Lynas, the biggest uncommon earths mining and processing firm outdoors China, has signed a contract with the US Division of Protection for the development of a Texas processing facility, USA Uncommon Earth is planning a processing facility in Oklahoma, and Appia has found a brand new uncommon earths bearing zone.

As a part of the affect marketing campaign, pretend accounts, together with some pretending to be of Texas residents, have been used to name for protests and critique President Biden’s invocation of the Protection Manufacturing Act on March 31, 2022, to speed up the manufacturing of essential minerals within the US.

“Whereas the exercise we element right here doesn’t seem to have been notably efficient and acquired solely restricted engagement by seemingly actual people, the marketing campaign’s microtargeting of particular audiences counsel the opportunity of utilizing comparable means to govern public discourse surrounding different U.S. political points to the PRC’s benefit,” Mandiant famous.

The marketing campaign claimed that the constructing of a uncommon earths processing facility in Texas would have a unfavorable influence on the surroundings, exposing the native inhabitants to radioactive contamination and well being issues.

The suspected inauthentic accounts posted messages on Twitter and on the general public Fb group “STOP LYNAS! NO to Lynas Exporting and Creating One other Poisonous Legacy,” however acquired little engagement.

The posts have been primarily in English, with a few of the content material in Chinese language and Malay. The risk actor posted photographs of Malaysian demonstrations in opposition to Lynas attributable to controversy relating to the disposal of radioactive waste at its facility in Kuantan. The affect campaigns focusing on Appia and USA Uncommon Earth began in June.

“Accounts leveraged commentary by actual people, resembling U.S. politicians and commentators, to help their arguments in opposition to Lynas, its deliberate processing facility in Texas, and the Biden administration’s resolution to expedite manufacturing of essential minerals,” Mandiant famous.

The safety researchers found that the risk actor had created new accounts to advertise the identical narratives promoted by beforehand recognized Dragonbridge accounts, all of which have proven comparable indicators of inauthenticity and coordination, resembling using photographs from on-line sources, using seemingly random numeric strings in account names, and the creation of accounts in clusters.

“Along with the accounts’ posting of equivalent or comparable uncommon earths-related content material, we additionally noticed a few of the accounts publish equivalent or comparable apolitical content material, resembling inspirational quotes, wellness, journey, and sports activities content material,” Mandiant stated.

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