Chinese Cyber Espionage Rises by 150 Percent in 2024: Report

Chinese cyberattacks targeting American interests spiked by 150 percent in 2024, according to a recent report by CrowdStrike, a prominent American cybersecurity firm. The report highlights a shift from traditional malware intrusions to advanced artificial intelligence (AI)-powered deceptive tactics.

The 2025 CrowdStrike Global Threat Report, released on February 27, attributes a 300 percent rise in cyberattacks on U.S. financial, media, and industrial sectors to AI-driven methods. Generative AI is being leveraged to create fake profiles, generate emails, and conduct social engineering attacks that are increasingly convincing, the report states.

“China’s cyber espionage reached new levels of maturity, with adversaries maintaining a higher operational tempo,” the report noted.

A notable rise in voice phishing (vishing) attacks was observed, with a 442 percent increase in incidents where attackers phone their victims directly. Initial access intrusions accounted for 52 percent of all cases documented by CrowdStrike in 2024. The report also reveals that cybercriminal services offered by access brokers—who sell unauthorized access to compromised systems—have surged by 50 percent.

The report identifies cyber snooping as a key tool employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to target foreign political and military adversaries. It also highlights the involvement of the North Korean group Famous Chollima, which embedded itself in U.S. companies. With AI assistance, the group created convincing fake IT job candidates to obstruct services during the last U.S. presidential election, allegedly at the behest of China, Russia, and Iran.

Following President Donald Trump’s election victory, China-linked groups reportedly bypassed intermediaries and engaged directly in cyber operations. The Soufan Center, a nonprofit research organization, supported this claim in a January report, indicating a spike in Chinese cyber intrusions two weeks before Trump’s inauguration.

CrowdStrike’s report suggests the cyberattacks align with the CCP’s strategy of expanding regional influence, particularly regarding Taiwan. Taiwan’s National Security Bureau reported that it experienced 2.4 million cyberattacks daily from China in 2024, double the amount recorded the previous year.

Domestically, AI-powered cyber snooping is used to repress members of the Falun Gong spiritual group, Uyghur Muslims, pro-democracy activists, and critics from Tibet and Taiwan, the report adds.

Beijing has not officially responded to the report. However, China typically denies involvement in cyber espionage and often accuses the United States or the United Kingdom of similar activities. This stance contrasts with the CCP’s military doctrine, which emphasizes “information warfare” and “information-psychological operations” to shape public opinion and achieve political and military objectives, according to a study by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies.