LYFtvnews in english : "HaiEnergy" Information Operations Campaign Disseminate Content on Inauthentic News Sites

Gilles Roman Admin Date d'inscription : 04/05/2015

Pro-PRC “HaiEnergy” Information Operations Campaign Leverages Infrastructure from Public Relations Firm to Disseminate Content on Inauthentic News Sites. Mandiant has identified an ongoing information operations (IO) campaign leveraging a network of at least 72 suspected inauthentic news sites and a number of suspected inauthentic social media assets to disseminate content strategically aligned with the political interests of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The sites present themselves primarily as independent news outlets from different regions across the world and publish content in 11 languages.

Based on technical indicators we detail in this blog, we believe these sites are linked to Shanghai Haixun Technology Co., Ltd (上海海讯社科技有限公司), a Chinese public relations (PR) firm (referred to hereafter as “Haixun”).

Narratives promoted by the campaign criticize the U.S. and its allies, attempt to reshape the international image of Xinjiang due to mounting international scrutiny, and express support for the reform of Hong Kong’s electoral system—a change which gave the PRC more power over vetting local candidates. In addition to these broader themes, the campaign leveraged fabricated content designed to discredit opponents who have been critical of the Chinese Government, including Chinese businessman Guo Wengui (Miles Kwok) and German anthropologist Adrian Zenz—known for his research on Xinjiang—and China’s reported genocide against the Uyghur population.
Given the distinctive tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) employed by this campaign, we are classifying this activity set as its own campaign, which we have dubbed “HaiEnergy”—stemming from the campaign’s use of infrastructure attributed to Haixun and services advertised by the PR firm as “positive energy packages.” Notably, the term “positive energy” (正能量) is an important term in the Xi Jinping era that refers to messages positively portraying the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Chinese Government, and its policies.
Despite the capabilities and global reach of this campaign, there is at least some evidence to suggest that HaiEnergy failed to generate substantial engagement outside of the inauthentic amplification that we have identified—a limitation we also noted in our recent public reporting on DRAGONBRIDGE. We find the campaign’s use of infrastructure linked to Haixun to be more interesting, as it is suggestive of recent trends surrounding the outsourcing of IO to third parties, which can make IO more accessible and help obfuscate the identities of an actor.
Infrastructure Linked to Shanghai Haixun Technology Co., Ltd (上海海讯社科技有限公司)
Based on information from public descriptions of the company’s services, Haixun offers content creation and marketing services in at least 40 different languages in over 100 countries. Among their most notable offerings are the “Europe and U.S. Positive Energy” package, which includes content creation ostensibly geared towards English-speaking audiences, and the “Positive Energy Project Edition,” which focuses on the production of tailor-made videos, promotion of custom content through “high-quality media resources,” and campaign impact monitoring.

Table : Inauthentic websites linked to Haixun

Display Name Website URL

24 News 24usnews.com Aisa Korea aisakorea.com All City Times allcitytimes.com Anna Times annatimes.com Austria Weekly austriaweekly.com Focus on Russia automobile.trademarksdaily.com 財富台灣 caifutw.com Charm Daily charmdaily.com Czech Weekly czechweekly.com Director Times directortimes.com Donga Daily dongadaily.com Egypt Daily egyptdaily.com Elec Daily elecdaily.com Espana Daily espanadaily.com Eur Times eutimes.fr Exactly News exactlynews.com E.MP finance.austriaweekly.com Finance.TZ finance.thaibizdaily.com FT Voice finance.thewarsawvoice.com TH Truth finance.thtruth.com Finland Weekly finlandweekly.com Hani Daily hanidaily.com Hanna Press hannapress.com Health Latest Job News health.latestjobnews.in 香港日報 hkdaily.net Toyo Times hotels.toyotimes.com 台灣焦點 hotintaiwan.com Hurriyet Business hurriyetbusiness.com Inspect News inspectnews.com Jakarta Globe jakartaglobe.org KR Economy kreconomy.com KR Pop Star krpopstar.com Latest Job News latestjobnews.in Lehua Times lehuatimes.com Lori Times loritimes.com Charm Daily markets.charmdaily.com Elec Daily markets.elecdaily.com Hani Dal markets.hanidaily.com Joins Da markets.joinsdaily.com KR Economy markets.kreconomy.com Mecha Times mechatimes.com Moscow TV moscowtv.vip Nanyang Daily nanyangdaily.com Nets Bay netsbay.com New Delhi News newdelhinews.club NZL Daily newzealandgazette.com NGR Daily nigeriacom.com New York City Morning Post nycmorning.com Portugal Daily portugaldaily.com Qatar Daily qatardaily.org RAND Daily randdaily.com RU Business rubusiness.club RU Industrial ruindustrial.com Russian Daily russiadaily.org Sain Times saintimes.com Saudi Weekly saudiweekly.com Seoul Daily seouldaily.org Startup India Magazine startupindiamagazine.com Swiss Weekly swissweekly.com Swiss Zeitung swisszeitung.com The Korea Times thekoreatimes.org Russian Daily therussiadaily.com The Thailands thethailands.com The Warsaw Voice thewarsawvoice.com TH Truth thtruth.com Toyo Times toyotimes.com TMK Daily trademarksdaily.com Unsee News unseenews.com Huabei Daily vn.huabeidaily.com 香港週報 weeklyhongkong.com Yarl Times yarltimes.com Yasu Daily yasudaily.com