How China's Attack-Defence Labs Fuel Its Cyber Operations

The People’s Republic of China's cybersecurity industry is underpinned by a deeply embedded mindset: to defend, one must first know how to attack (未知攻,焉知防). Popularised in the 1990s by Taiwanese hacker Lin Zhenglong (“Coolfire”), this defence-through-offence philosophy has shaped generations of self-taught hackers, patriotic hacktivist groups, and eventually a new class of Capture the Flag-trained entrepreneurs. Today, the concept finds its clearest institutional expression in corporate "attack-defence labs" run by firms such as Qihoo 360, Tencent, and Qi An Xin, and reinforced by state policy that treats private companies as part of China's cyber attack-and-defence apparatus. Several attack-defence labs have been directly linked to offensive tool development, exploit research, and support for state cyber operations.