China beefs up cyber security to prevent online frauds

China has clamped new regulations to beef up cyber security to address the growing complaints of online frauds and leakage of private information on the internet costing billions of dollars.

Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China; and the Standardisation Administration of China (SAC) unveiled a document yesterday which contained new guidelines.

The document stipulates that mandatory national standards will be introduced to regulate the fields of major information technology infrastructure protection and classified networks, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Authorities will accelerate the introduction of standards in cyber security, personal information protection, cyber security information sharing and other fields.

The new standards will be in line with the country's laws and regulations.

The document also requires the establishment of an information sharing mechanism for major cyber projects and unified national standards to reduce the burden for companies and to improve the country's overall cyber security, said Gao Lin, secretary general of the SAC.

According to an online survey by the Internet Society of China in June, 54 per cent of respondents said they believed there was rampant leaking of private information online, with 84 per cent said they had personally suffered from information leaks.

The economic losses incurred by online fraud and the leaking of private information leakage in China totalled 91.5 billion yuan ($15.25 billion) from the second half of 2015 to the first half of this year, the report said.